Night Comes Down
by Lost Experiment
Summary: The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand
1. Prologue Heroes End

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Prologue: Heroes End**

An unearthly scream rent the air as the citizens of New Olympia fled in terror; a practice they were beginning to get all too used to by now. As the panicked masses raced by, a grizzled man reeking of liquor weaved his way haphazardly through the crowd. He staggered in front of the entrance to a narrow alleyway, wild-eyed and preaching a rather dubious interpretation of biblical Armageddon to the world at large.

Crouched in the alcove, seven teenagers lurked just out of sight of the crowds, scanning the area for a glimpse of the beast, and an unhindered route towards it. Each was well aware that this course of action would be considered by most as 'really stupid', and hence concealment was entirely necessary to avoid such unnecessary questions, not to mention lessen the potential of getting trampled by a whole mess of people headed the other way.

Giggling softly to himself, his shock of purple hair just visible, Archie poked his nearest companion in the side, who, judging from the barely stifled yelp of shock turned out to be Neil. "I think there's a better chance of the world coming to an end from his body odor than...uh, whatever it is we're going to fight." he noted confidently, jerking his head in the direction the wayward man had taken.

This produced two reactions, the desired snort of laughter from both Neil and Herry (who had been behind him), and Atlanta hissing as their heads knocked together rather painfully.

"Geez, I'm sorry Atlanta, are you ok--"

"OW! NOW, You're crushing MY toes!"

"Sorry Neil..."

"These are designer trainers and..."

"Shhh. Guys!" Jay remonstrated to his squabbling teammates, and they fell dutifully silent, shooting each other glares that went totally unnoticed in the gloom. "Odie. Can you see anything?"

With the flick of a switch, an LCD glow lit up the alleyway eerie green. "I can't see anything from down here, but I have got a lock on it, using this tracker-sensor. It's making it's way north into the center of the city, coming from the direction of the harbor." He looked out at the street, where the rest of the rampaging mob had largely dispersed. "What-say, Mr. Leader?"

Jay's expression was fixed into the poker face he saved for battle as he replied. "I say, 'Let's go.'"

As one, the teens surged forward from their hiding spot, taking their cue from Jay and grimly preparing themselves for the coming battle.

* * *

The sky was a horrifying red, mingling sunset and the haze of ozone. Squinting through the smoggy air, Atlanta sniffed carefully as she jogged. "I'm pretty sure this thing breathes fire." she noted. 

Beside her, Jay nodded, clearly taking the hunters' opinion into consideration. "Is there anything else?"

Before the red-head could reply, Herry's voice cut in. "Uh, yeah. It's pretty big, it flies, razor sharp talons, long, snake-like body, freakishly ugly..." with more force than he meant to, he knocked Jay and Atlanta out of the way, ducking just in time as the leviathan whistled overhead, missing his head by mere inches. Theresa and Archie raced over to help the two up, as the descendant of Hercules jumped to his feet, watching the beast circle around.

"What IS that thing?"

It hung in the air a second, letting out a second screech before diving at them again. Theresa this time found herself being dragged out of harm's way by Atlanta, who barely avoided being grazed herself. "It's fast!" she gasped, racking her brain as to some clue to it's origin. "I know I've never seen anything like this in any of the books, but it seems familiar to me somehow."

"Me too." Theresa nodded agreement, recovering slightly.

"Strange as it sounds, me too."

Atlanta raised an eyebrow, turning to Neil in shock as he drew up beside the two girls. "You don't even do any of the readings!" she accused, temporarily forgetting the situation in the face of the ire the model usually inspired in her. "How would YOU know?"

Neil shrugged, "I don't rightly know." he paused, waving his hands as if to ward off Atlanta's increasingly frustrated scowl. "I just know that I think something else had that freaky multiple snake-tail. Or maybe it was a head. Whatever."

Atlanta looked ready to deliver a brilliantly scathing retort, but Theresa held up a hand.

"Wait. Neil might have touched on something. I remember those horns, and that strangely shaped nose. They're just like the Minotaur-cows Chronus had engineered."

Their attention was momentarily brought back to the battle at hand as Archie aimed his Hephaestus whip at the creature, cursing as it glanced harmlessly off the beast's body with a slightly metallic clink. "It's heavily armored like those hideous Stymphalian birds, too." Neil added with a shudder, twitching as though he expected one to arrive and carry him off any moment.

Forgetting temporarily that she was supposed to be angry with the model, Atlanta's eyes widened as her brain started to piece the puzzle together. "You don't suppose Chronus created a hybrid of..."

"All my creatures? Ingenious, isn't it! I'm especially proud of it's Chimera tails - you'll note there's seven of them. One for each of you. It worked so very well against Jay."

The three observers whirled as one to face the God of Time, startled into silence from his surprise arrival. Before any of them could formulate a response to this horrifying confession, an angry blur in purple and gold raced past, and the Titan was forced to defend himself.

Deftly, the God of Time leveraged his scythe against Jay's blade, wrenching it from his grasp and sending it skittering away across the pavement. He clicked his tongue mockingly as the hero stumbled out of the way of a follow up swipe. "You make it too easy boy. Never rush your opponent like that."

Jay backpedaled wildly, groping for his extendable pole arm.

"Jay..." Archie's nervous voice cut across the expanse. "We _really_ need your help here..."

Chronus stopped dead in his tracks, smirking nastily down at the brunette as he lazily cut a wormhole into the time-space fabric. "Oh! I see you're busy. Well. I'll come back later then. If there's anything to come back for later." He gestured at the creature. "I've been teasing it, poking it, generally neglecting to feed it and singing off-key at it. It's pretty 'pissed off', as you kids might say."

Jay growled, bringing his feet under him in preparation for a counterattack.

The God of Time gave a jaunty wave, and stepped towards the portal. "Anyhow, have fun. I'll be seeing you. Or not."

The extendable staff whistled through the air where the fugitive God had been standing a second too late, and Jay cursed under his breath.

"JAY!" Archie was frantic this time, his voice snapping the descendant of Jason back to the present. "We need you!"

"I'll be with you as soon as I get my sword back!" Jay yelled, as he picked it up and started back towards the battle at a dead run.

"It's okay, I've got it; it's too fast for all of you!" Wrist crossbow at the ready, Atlanta put on a burst of her infamous speed, firing wildly at the monster. A claw whipped around, whistling through air as she dodged with grace. Spinning back the other way, she rallied herself for another shot, the movement taking her directly into the line of fire of the beast's second set of arms.

Herry bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet, waiting to return to the battle as Odie tied a piece of his shirt around the deep gash on his arm. "Watch out for those claws, Atlanta! They can really sma..." he trailed off with a horrified gasp, not noticing that in his own expression of shock, Odie had tied the tourniquet bindingly tight, nearly cutting off the blood flow in his arm altogether.

"Atlanta!" Archie shrieked in grief, while Neil settled for arranging his face into an expression of terrified disgust. The hunter looked over her own shoulder in shock at the long talon that passed directly into her front and out her back, before sliding heavily backwards onto the ground. The Leviathan peeled off into the sky and Theresa who was closest, was by her side in an instant.

The redhead opened her mouth, but whether she had planned to speak her death throes, curse the name of her attacker or merely apologize for her failure, no one would ever find out as reality interjected with a spurt of blood that oozed thick and bubbling from her lips.

While Theresa had always claimed that Herry was the fool, it was she who smeared blood across her friend's chin, jamming her fingers clumsily into the younger girl's mouth as if in doing so, she could put the blood back where it belonged and miraculously make everything okay.

Ignoring the little stabs of pain in his arm, Herry broke free of Odie's ministrations and charged the abomination as it rallied itself to strike the unwitting Theresa. He leapt blindly onto it's head, hanging on fast and twisting desperately with his powerful arms. The creature let out a strangled coughing noise, and bucked wildly, threatening to shake Herry from its back.

"Odie! Neil! Jay! Archie!" he grunted. "Do something! Help me!"

Odie looked desperately around him finding nothing of use, while Archie ignored the summons in favour of aiding Theresa with Atlanta. Neil frantically snapped his fingers in front of Jay's eyes. "Jay! Earth to Jay!"

"For crying out loud Neil, YOU do something! Use his sword!" Odie screamed, as Jay continued to stare blankly into the distance.

"I've never used one of these before!" Neil hollered back.

"You're the lucky one!" Herry gasped desperately from above, blinking the sweat out of his eyes.

Wrenching the xiphos handle easily from Jay's limp grip, Neil fumbled frantically with the blade until it extended, then raced towards the monster, pulling up a bit in fear as it let out another ear-piercing scream. Putting as much strength as he could into it, he flung the short sword towards the beast, pulling himself up a bit proudly despite the circumstances as the lucky shot managed to pierce the armor and bury itself into the creature's chest.

Herry twisted the head around finally with a nasty-sounding snap as sinews tore, springing free as the wings stopped beating and the carcass plunged earthward. The dying creature gave a final convulsive twist that nobody noticed, so focused were they on Atlanta.

As Atlanta too closed her eyes, sweetly, calmly, as if she was merely falling asleep back in her own bed at the dorm, the earth cracked in two. Flame burst forth from the rift, and the heroes ran for it, Herry bodily dragging the statuesque Jay by one wrist, Odie encouraging the stricken Archie with slightly greater success, Neil and Theresa last, after maneuvering Atlanta's body into a comfortable carrying position on Neil's shoulders.

The group ran awkwardly down the street, bee-lining for the safety of the school and the protection of the Gods.

It was Odie who saw it first. "No…" he gasped, staring blankly at the flames which engulfed New Olympia High. With surprising strength, he managed to wrench Archie and the others back into the shadows, narrowly avoiding the gaze of the destructive monsters that patrolled the perimeter.

"What…do we do?" Neil asked hesitantly, resting Atlanta against a nearby wall. Her head flopped forward bonelessly, and he winced at the pitiful sight.

Behind them, there was a soft choking sound, and the group wheeled around in terror. What they saw was far worse than anything Chronus could have invented, as Jay's façade had finally cracked, leaving the leader of the Heroes on his knees, crying as though the world was about to end.

Unfortunately for them, it was already ending.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Hopefully this has been an enjoyable read, and thanks to Miss Twill for convincing me to take a stab at writing it. Also, bonus points to anyone who can figure out (one of) my favorite bands from the titles alone. 


	2. Chapter One: Victim of Changes

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter One: Victim of Changes**

Herry kept a lookout at the door, while the other five huddled close around the body of Atlanta in the tool shed at Herry's Grandmother's now-abandoned house.

"I'm sure she found a place to hide, Herry." Odie told him, hoping he sounded confident. "She's a pretty tough lady. Isn't that right Jay?" he added, a note of desperation working its way into his voice.

The leader of the heroes had not spoken a word since his expression of grief a few hours ago, and it took a combination of Herry, with occasionally Archie or Neil, to so much as convince him to move anywhere. Leaving Jay alone for the present, Odie returned his attentions back to the others, where Neil and Theresa had cleared off a place on a workbench for Archie to place Atlanta.

The damage to Atlanta's body was quite severe, and fortunately for the last shreds of Archie's sanity in particular, the remnants of her blood-soaked T-shirt covered the worst of the gore. They all stared at the grisly sight, hope quickly siphoning away as they reviewed their situation.

"If New Olympia High was still standing, we might have been able to go to the Underworld and bring her back." Theresa lamented.

"But…" Odie trailed off for a second, analyzing from all angles what he was about to say. He wasn't about to give anyone false hope. "That was just one entrance. We may be able to find another, especially in New Olympia."

Theresa nodded. "That's right!" her voice coming out unnaturally high in her forced enthusiasm. "Maybe we can still sneak back and try to find something at the high school. A salvageable book, a clue...anything."

"I bet that's the first thing Chronus expects us to do. We may have a chance right now, but we definitely can't afford to lose anyone else."

"There is another option," Neil piped up. "Namely: we get the hell out of Dodge. You said it Odie, Chronus wants us ALL dead; I don't see the point in staying around to find out what methods he's going to use."

The reaction to that was predictable but instantaneous, Archie grabbed hold of Neil's shirt and pushed him up against the wall, balling his free hand into a fist. "You're just going to give up on her?" He uncoiled his hand and gestured wildly to Atlanta instead. "You're going to give up on the world? You make me sick, Neil. You're..."

Theresa and Herry wrenched them apart, shaking their heads and cutting off Archie's rant. "Archie, you need to calm down. Neil, Archie's right, we can't leave, or else Chronus definitely wins. We can't let that happen, but we also can't be too obvious. We've been very lucky so far, but I doubt very much that we've got long before we become a target. We're going to have to find somewhere to hide."

"On that note," Odie continued, "I don't think here is a good idea, or anywhere else that's connected with our lives or our families."

"What about Atlanta?" Archie was still breathing heavily from a mix of exhaustion and his burst of anger.

"We can't be dragging her around with us," said Odie reasonably.

"We're not burying her!" Temper automatically rising again, the descendant of Achilles banged his fist on the table. "We can't." he repeated pleadingly, looking around at the expressions on the faces of his friends.

"I think we should make her a coffin, at least. We probably shouldn't bury her strictly speaking, but maybe we can hide her in the abandoned sectors of the subway system somewhere. That way, when we go to bring her back, she won't wake up buried alive." Theresa suggested, watching Archie's face carefully.

"I think that's a good idea." Odie confirmed. "I'm pretty sure that if we can make it down there ourselves, that's a good place to start looking for a hideout of our own."

Archie's shoulders slumped, but he nodded acceptance, picking up a hammer, and taking the pile of wood that Herry located under the bench. The others stepped back, allowing him to work.

* * *

The engine in Herry's battered jeep had given a final cough and died a mile or two outside of the city. The group took shifts of two carrying Atlanta in her coffin, creating an unusual kind of funeral procession. To this point they had met with no resistance or sign of a follower, although Neil had been startled into nearly dropping his end of Atlanta's coffin at least twice by nearby birds and had subsequently been officially banned from any further carrying duty. Instead, the onus fell on him to guide Jay through the haze that had been thickening ever since the last creature of Chronus' had appeared. 

The sight that met their eyes as they finally got a good view of the city, was not comforting, but certainly not surprising. From their vantage point across the river, they could see the flock of monsters circling the highest point in the city that was clearly to be the location of Chronus' new throne.

"You mean he's still not ready to take over yet?" Archie asked, disbelieving.

"These things take time!" Neil said, knowingly, running a hand pointlessly through his hair to illustrate.

Odie looked rather relieved at the prospect of not having to face the God-turned-Overlord in battle just yet. "Good for us, bad for him. This might be our only chance to hide. We have to take it."

* * *

Crossing the river was the easiest leg of the journey, once Odie discovered that Atlanta's coffin floated. Archie hadn't initially been happy about the situation, but the water had only come about chest high allowing his feet to touch the bottom and keeping his phobia in check. Theresa was of the opinion that this was a bad sign. She kept hoping for a vision that would tell them of danger ahead, but knew her own concentration was askew from the events of the past day. She set her jaw and tried to focus. 

As they reached the main grid, they paused momentarily. "The nearest station is about two streets down that way. I think we're okay guys."

Right on cue, Theresa's vision exploded with a flash of blue. It was too brief to glean anything specific, but the warning sign was more than enough. "Look out!"

The Harpy dived at them from the sky, Neil dragging Jay into a corner, Odie, Herry and Archie beginning to panic. They didn't want to risk losing their cargo, but they were about to get shredded.

Thinking quickly, Theresa backed up a few paces and called to Herry. "Give me a boost!"

Seeing what she wanted, the descendant of Hercules shifted the weight of the coffin to his other hand, and used his free arm to add extra velocity to Theresa as she leapt into the air. The chain of her nunchuaku lanced out and struck the creature hard in the skull, it screamed vengeance at her before changing its course and heading off into the sky.

She landed gracefully, and watched the avian beast fly away, nodding at Herry. "Thanks, but we'd better get going before it comes back and brings it's friends."

* * *

"Here, dude. I think you should do the honors." Shooting the model a rare look of gratitude, Archie took the proffered Loonie from Neil, and slipped it into Atlanta's mouth. Nobody teased him as he kissed her forehead before closing the lid. "Wait for us Atlanta, we'll be coming to find you as soon as we're able."

Herry pushed the coffin as far back as he could into the alcove they'd found, obscuring it into darkness while Odie placed seven stones in front of the entrance, carefully arranging them so they made no obvious pattern, but would serve to remind them of the location when they returned.

Archie turned back to the group, and they were silent a moment. Odie caught Theresa's eye and broke the silence as she nodded imperceptibly at him. "I think we'd better try and find ourselves a new home. I saw what I think might have been someone's basement a few blocks the other way, when we were coming down here. That might work." He suggested.

Archie and Herry exchanged a look between themselves and nodded immediate agreement, but Neil wrinkled his nose in thought. "Ewww." He drawled. "That…hole we saw? I bet there are…bugs and…rats and things in there."

Before any of them could admonish the descendant of Narcissus, Neil turned towards the unresisting Jay, grabbing his face and pinching his cheeks together so that his mouth opened of it's own accord. Speaking out of the corner of his mouth as though using a ventriloquist's dummy, Neil spoke in a serious voice that was supposed to be an imitation of Jay's, "Get used to it Neil, it's all we've got now. I'm sure you'll be able to make it absolutely beautiful, given your amazing talents."

The others exchanged glances and a few watery smiles as Neil spun around and began to make his way up the passageway, leading Jay and apparently giggling to himself at his own joke.

"I guess we've all got their own way of dealing with it." Theresa noted, as she set off after Neil. The others followed.

* * *

Odie groaned aloud as he hefted the heavy basket onto his shoulders and started hanging up the various articles of rather pitiful looking wet clothing and sheets. "Agh!" he complained, bracing his knee aganst a nearby chair to create a ledge on which to rest his load. "Couldn't you guys give me a hand with this or something? It's heavy!" 

Herry, already seated at what passed for their table; several charred pieces of random furniture arranged around a door propped on dangerously sagging cardboard boxes, shook his head. "You need to build up your strength. You need to be able to handle yourself in a fight."

The decendant of Odysseus shot him a look that could have curdled milk. "And doing your laundry is the way I'm going to learn to be a hardcore killing machine is it? I suppose I could always fling your panties at hi--"

"I don't wear panties!" Determined to get the last word in, Herry stood, pushing up his sleeves and flexing his arms. "Though if you're that determined to get hands-on practice, we can have another round of sparring, like we did earlier today..."

Odie wobbled slightly under the weight and the basket crashed to the ground, spilling sheets and clothes all over the floor. He sighed, leaning down to retrieve them. "I'll be good."

The creaking of unstable floorboards heralded the arrival of Theresa, who cast a worried look over at the door. "Has anyone seen Neil? It's not good to be out so late." she asked, though her eyes rested more closely on the still figure seated quietly in the shadowy corners of the room,.

Odie dropped his laundry and patted the taller girl fondly on the arm. "Jay's been the same..." he said apologetically answering her unspoken question first. "I can't say I know where Neil is."

As if on cue, the door burst open, and the three teens prepared for battle. Theresa had already taken a few running steps towards the door, and Herry was in the process of destroying their table again, when Neil whipped off the hood of his jacket, dripping a puddle of water on the floor, and revealing a strangely makeup streaked face.

"Ugh. It's nasty out there. AND, it's raining." Preparing to attack anyone who turned up on their doorstep was now a way of life, and Neil ignored his friends as they recovered themselves, turning towards the figure by the door. "Heya Jay, how's it hanging?"

It was an unspoken rule between the group that Jay was to be treated as though things were normal, though he continued to remain in his catatonic state, and never replied, despite any of their best efforts.

"Where were you?" Theresa demanded. "You can't stay out like that - it's so dangerous out there!"

"More importantly," added Archie, who had woken up from his rest in the other room and come to see what the fuss was about, "What's with the makeup?" He crossed the room and touched Neil's cheek curiously, wrinkling his nose at the smear of blue glitter that came away.

Neil coughed, a tad nervously. "Well, it would seem that some people feel that since Chronus is probably going to kill them and their families or...uh...monster...friends...uh anyway, yeah - since this is probably going to be their last night alive, that it would be best to spend that night drinking in one of those underground bars."

The group blinked at him. "And you've been deciding to partake of that, have you?" Theresa asked, in a voice that suggested she definitely didn't approve.

Neil brought a hand up to his mouth to stifle an unfortunately timed hiccup. "Well, just a bit." he mumbled, then in a more normal voice added, "I also got some important information."

"Like what?"

"Well...it would seem that those Harpies aren't terribly pleased with Chronus, and one of them ended up telling me that...well, he's figured out where we are, and...we probably shouldn't be staying here any longer."

Odie dropped his basket again. "WHAT?"

"Neil! When were you going to tell us this? When should we be out of here by, do you know?" Archie was already taking on the task of dragging Jay to his feet, while Theresa and Herry loaded what they could into their arms.

There was a crash outside, and the descendant of Narcissus gave a yelp of fright. "I should say about NOW."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Chapter One. The most difficult part about writing this story for me is to have the kids in character while trying to decide how they're going to deal with their situation. It's a serious one, and I can't have them be one-dimensional. In character is what I'm striving for, so I hope this is what has come across here. Also, don't think we've seen the last of Atlanta yet.

Finally: The answer to my music question: Night Comes Down and Heroes End, as well as Victim of Changes are all songs by _Judas Priest_ :D


	3. Chapter Two: Hammer and the Anvil

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter Two: Between the Hammer and the Anvil  
**

When Atlanta opened her eyes next, the first thing she felt was a rather acute pain in her midsection and a slight throb in her head. She groaned and shifted in order to massage the hurt from her stomach, but was confused when a mere second later the pain in both places vanished as though it had never been. Putting that out of her mind for a moment, she sat up and took a look around her, taking into account the gloomy surroundings, as the events of her last battle came flooding back to her.

Putting two and two together, she opened her mouth to curse her fate, and found her tongue once again mysteriously obstructed. She gave a cough in the hopes of dislodging the whatever-it-was, and very nearly dropped the Canadian Loonie she spat into her palm. She stared at it a moment, then clenched her fist, an angry scowl spreading across her spiritual face.

"They just gave up on me like that? Those jerks!"

Reality settled in more clearly as Charon silently pulled his boat up alongside the girl, looming dark and fearsome behind his cowl. He extended his claw-like hand, but the grim boatman actually recoiled a touch in surprise as Atlanta all but smacked the coin into his palm.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with." She groused, affecting an impatient air the entire way over and grumbling a thank-you out of sheer enforced manners as she stepped out of the boat on the other side. Charon's rather amused smirk was invisible through the shadows cast by his hood. Those Hero-types were always the same; they were never finished with their silly work.

Stomping through the gates of Hades, Atlanta pointedly ignored Cerberus who galloped around her like a mutant puppy and gave a disappointed whimper when she didn't seem to want stop to play.

The next stop was King Minos' Hall of Judgment, where she finally prepared for a good argument to work off some of her frustration. Given the team's last run-in with him, she expected him to be rather upset to see her. Instead the Judge of the souls regarded her with a rather sympathetic look.

"It's okay kiddo. You're a hero." He said in the gruff, abrupt tones of someone clearly not used to providing comfort to others. "And, you're here for an appropriate reason this time." Raising his gavel over his shoulder, he prepared to seal the Hunter's fate.

"Stop talking to me like that! I'm…" she trailed off, trying to decide what the end of that sentence was. _I'm not dead?_ No, she definitely was that. All of this was just too much. What had happened to the others? Were they dead too? Still alive? Being tortured? Would they be waiting for her, wherever the King was sending her?

"…to the Elysian fields." And with that, the gavel came down smartly, transporting Atlanta to the abode of the blessed before she had any more time to protest against it.

Atlanta's first reaction upon arrival was to be impressed in spite of herself. "It's so…beautiful here." She intoned, feeling very much that this made up the biggest understatement of the year. She allowed herself a moment to look around, feeling her anger siphon away as she regarded the sheer magnitude of the glorious space.

"But I have to get out of here." She reminded herself, giving her head a little shake. Her shoulders sagged a little as her posture relaxed. "That can't be right can it? Leaving?" The redhead's eyelids dropped to half-mast, as a haze of bliss overtook her soul. "Certainly not when it's so peaceful here."

* * *

"I hate you Neil. I mean, I really, REALLY hate you Neil. If we get out of this, I'm gonna tear out your spleen and serve it to my dog." Herry was of course loaded down with more items than any normal man should be able to carry, but he still managed to find a spare fist to shake in the general direction of the descendant of Narcissus.

"Hey! It's thanks to ME we're getting out of this in the first place." Neil protested, though his face was ashen grey. "And that little puffball of yours doesn't scare me." A second great crash caused the earth to tremble, and nearly knocked the heroes off their feet. "On the other hand, that definitely does scare me. Let's MOVE."

Nobody needed to vocalize the opinion that all things considered that was the most intelligent idea they'd heard all day. They scrambled out of the door into the tunnels, a few more crashes behind them suggesting that perhaps the house had collapsed. Nobody looked back to find out.

"Not this way, THIS way!" Archie hollered, diverting the group away from the road that lead to where Atlanta was resting. They turned to follow him, but pulled up short as they realized they were suddenly one less. Theresa let loose a scream, but fortunately her warning flash of intuition had allowed her to barely squirm away from her attacker and scramble back to the safety of the others. They closed in protectively towards each other, discreetly shoving Jay to the back of the group.

"Wasn't there a story about how little girls shouldn't go down rabbit holes?" Chronus asked casually, stepping into the dim emergency lighting and confirming their worst fears.

Theresa fought to control her racing heartbeat, panicking slightly as the Titan advanced. They weren't ready for a confrontation yet. They had barely been able to get started on their plan. Jay was still completely unresponsive which of course meant that they hadn't formulated a contingency scenario for a situation like this.

Spotting their uncertainty, the God of Time threw caution to the wind, drawing back his scythe. They scattered, Archie springing the first attack, only to be tossed bodily onto the ground, wincing as his braced leg was forced to take the brunt of his fall. Neil managed to dodge clumsily, but his own thrown punch missed spectacularly. Theresa was soon sent skidding into Herry's arms, who managed to save her from joining Archie on the floor. She opened her mouth to offer a quick thanks, but was sent reeling from another warning. She gasped, realizing their potentially fatal error. In their panic, they'd left Jay completely unprotected.

Chronus had noticed, and was almost upon the still unmoving boy, who stood stone still. Whether or not he even saw the threat coming at his face was impossible to tell. Theresa leapt towards him, knowing full well she was too far to reach him, and a spatter of blood lanced out across the floor.

Odie, breathing heavily from his mad dash, had body checked Jay into a heap on the floor, the only apparent damage to his person being the long thin cut into his cheek. The descendant of Jason did not move from where he'd fallen, but he was clearly alive. Odie however, had merely replaced Jay with himself as victim.

"One way or another, I'm going to kill you all right here." Chronus smiled wickedly, raising his scythe quickly to attack his new target, who, to the shock of all the onlookers, promptly kicked the God of Time squarely in the crotch and nearly knocked the reeling Titan over as he ran like the proverbial bat out of hell.

As Chronus doubled over in pain, the other heroes managed to pull themselves out of states of shock just long enough to gather up Jay and take off after the descendant of Odysseus, somehow, prophecies and Armageddon be damned, trying to decide whether or not they really just saw their worst enemy get sacked by Odie, of all people.

"I'm not going to argue with your moves Odie; that was brilliant." Even Archie's sullen mood had broken temporarily with their small victory, and he went so far as to laugh as Neil and Herry offered high fives.

"I'm just glad we got out of there." Smile fading, Odie looked more seriously over at Herry. "You're right, I'm going to have to learn more about fighting."

"You got it." Herry shook his head, still chuckling and draped an arm around Odie's shoulders. He looked hopefully over at Jay, but their leader was still a depressing blank slate.

"What now guys? That's the second home we've been kicked out of." Archie frowned, looking nervously up the passage way.

"We need a plan, but we can't afford to be spotted again until it's complete." Theresa said firmly, setting her shoulders as though she'd come to a decision. "Neil. Look after Jay for a moment. See if you can clean up his face a bit, and check carefully if he broke anything. If he's not going to say anything to us, we can't afford to risk any injuries slowing us down because we don't know about them. The rest of us are going to patrol for Chronus, and then have a conference back here. If Chronus shows up, yell and fight as hard as you can."

Neil nodded, setting about seating Jay down on a nearby rock for inspection, pulling a tissue from his pocket and fussily scrubbing at the wound on his cheek.

After checking to see that the blonde was sufficiently occupied, Theresa pulled the rest of the team a ways down the path, out of earshot. "Guys, we've got to talk. That was a lucky break, and it's showed me how much we need a leader. We can't afford to be without plans."

"You're our leader now, Theresa." Archie said, loyally.

"No, I'm not. I don't have the confidence to be a proper leader." She frowned. "I make a better second in command. Someone to fine-tune plans, not make them up myself."

"Odie then. He's the smartest. He can come up with good plans, and you can confirm them." Herry suggested.

Odie looked horrified at the mere suggestion and waved his hands frantically as though it were a bug he could swat away. "No no no. I come up with what makes the plans work, not the plans themselves."

"Well you can't get me to take that kind of responsibility." Archie said, casting a look over his shoulder at Jay, that clearly said he didn't want to end up like him.

Theresa avoided their eyes, becoming profusely interested in the process of grinding her trainer into the dust. "I wasn't thinking of any of you guys." She admitted.

"But you said you didn't want to do it, and that only leaves Neil. Come on, you can't possibly be thinking of him as our leader."

Theresa frowned. She knew her plan was a risky one at best. "Hear me out on this one. I have a theory. Hera wouldn't have put Neil in charge the last time Jay was out of commission for nothing. I think that's because he's at least confident, and that's important to us now, as it was when we thought Odie had sided with Chronus. If we phrased it right, I'm sure he'd never even figure out that's really the primary reason we need him as leader."

Archie nodded slowly, digesting this bit of information. "Okay. I agree that he might be a confidence booster. But what do you say to the fact that in practically all the time we've known him, he's NEVER come up with a decent plan, nor attempted to come up with a decent plan. I mean, the first thing he wanted to do when he became leader was get us new outfits."

Theresa smiled wanly. "That's the gamble. I'm betting that we can use Neil's interest in himself to make him a competent leader in more than just confidence. If we die, he dies. We're just as important to his survival as he is himself." She frowned. "More than anything else, I'm trusting Hera's judgment here...because that's what Jay would have done."

Herry and Odie looked at each other.

"I guess I'm in. You're probably right that nobody else is going to take the job and we need a rally point of some kind." Odie nodded, if not a touch grimly. Herry mimicked his action.

"You sure you don't want the job Theresa?" Archie asked with a hint of desperation.

"No, I think this is the better idea." She stuck a hand into her pocket and crossed her fingers. It really couldn't hurt.

"Okay then." Archie sighed, still looking dubious but at the least resigned. "So. Who wants to be the first to tell Neil about his…how did he put it? Field Promotion?"

**Author's Notes**:

And thus concludes Chapter 2. Before we get anywhere, I'd like to say a few words about how flattered I am by all your reviews. It makes my day to know so many people are enjoying this story.

That being said – I hope this chapter continues to deliver, especially since as you an probably tell by the way this one ended, I'm going to start pushing my boundaries of what I know is easy and what I know will be more of a challenge to pull off competently. In other news, the _Judas Priest_ Chapter Title tradition continues – and will continue to continue.

I guess the only thing left to say is that updates will slow for the next few days, as I'm headed off to Anime North for the weekend, and will be gettin' my convention on, as opposed to writing. Who knows; maybe I'll even see some of you there.


	4. Chapter Three: Worth Fighting For

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter Three: Worth Fighting For**

Neil looked up from his inspection of Jay's ankle with a startled yelp as the group turned around and made their way back towards him. Relaxing somewhat at the sight of their easy gait, he beckoned them to hurry closer so he didn't have to yell and attract possible unwanted attention. They obeyed and he pulled himself onto the rock next to Jay in order to talk.

"I don't think anything's broken. His brain might be, but..." he trailed off, looking anxiously around at the faces of his friends. "What? Was that too much?"

"Neil." Odie began. His brow furrowed and he looked around to the rest of the group for support. "We've had a little discussion about the fact that we need a leader."

The descendant of Narcissus cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Fine. I don't think Jay can even hear me, but I can take a hint. I'll stop with the jokes." Crossing his arms, Neil affected an expression that clearly said that even under the circumstances, he thought they were all complete killjoys.

"Give me a break Neil." Archie's tone was nasty, but Theresa tapped his leg warningly with her foot, and he softened his voice somewhat as he continued, steeling himself for the worst. "The thing is Neil, we uh, decided that you should be the new leader."

Archie's expression by the end of his pronouncement would not have filled a normal man with confidence, as it was the sort of look only worn by people who had just been forced to inhale the scent of rather ripe and moldy cheese. Of course, Neil was not a normal man when it came to matters of his own ego. He had only heard the apparent praise and was now smiling wide. "Well, of course I should be in charge! I'm charismatic, intelligent, lucky, have great fashion sense…"

"We know Neil. That's why we chose you. For all your great reasons." Theresa cut him off in the interests of getting underway. "But we need you to start your new job right away. We need our new leader to help us solve a debate."

The blonde nodded enthusiastically, apparently thinking hard. "Wait." Neil's smile suddenly faded and his face fell. "I can't do this!"

The jaws of the heroes dropped in shock, as four brains tried to fathom the magnitude of a role that even Neil would not be willing to take on, despite flattery and promises of acolytes hanging on his every command.

"I'm not even dressed appropriately to be a leader."

Archie looked to be on the verge of a massive explosion, but Theresa jumped quickly in before he could speak. "Not to worry Neil. I'm sure YOU wouldn't need a fancy outfit to do a fine job."

The former model's face relaxed into a self-important smile again, and after confirming Theresa's statement to be true, genially asked after the problem at hand. As Herry explained the situation, the fighter took a worried look over at the descendant of Achilles, hoping against hope that Archie would manage to hold his temper in check.

* * *

With more sullenness than usual, Archie got into position next to Herry, and watched apathetically as Theresa started tugging uselessly at the clutter blocking her path. It had been Odie's idea to get Neil warmed up to the idea of making decisions on his own by letting him think he was already doing a brilliant job. Once he believed that the others valued his opinion that highly, he would probably be offering advice and orders left, right and center.

For his own part, Archie thought the whole idea was simply ridiculous. They should already be looking for a way to help Atlanta, not worrying about a new hideout or, for that matter, bolstering Neil's ego. It wasn't as though he needed it. Once they were returned to seven then they'd already be able to stop Chronus. The others in the group however, were determined to follow through with Theresa's idea, and for now he would have to endure.

As far as their hideout was concerned, the group had been divided over the choice to find a new location or return to the old in the hopes of salvaging some of the wreck. As the new order dictated, Neil had been asked to make the decision, and after a great deal of pacing, hemming and hawing, the descendant of Narcissus had decided with surprising determination that they backtrack. Theresa and Herry had looked delighted at Neil's apparent sense of responsibility, but Odie decided not to mention the coin that he'd seen slipped discreetly into a back pocket.

As luck would have it, the area was mercifully Chronus-free, the crash that they had heard had been outside the entrance but unfortunately a thick layer of rubble now prevented them from going back inside. A series of looks were exchanged between the conspirators, and they set about allowing Neil to voice the most logical plan.

"This is useless!" Theresa's knuckles had gone positively white with the effort of trying to dislodge the fallen beams and concrete. She rubbed her fingers, trying to get some of the feeling back into them.

This was supposed to be Archie's cue. "You're not strong enough." He droned obediently, trying to catch Herry's eye so that he could show off his expression of disgust. But Herry didn't turn his way, and the purple-haired teen fell further back into sullen silence.

"Hey!" Neil's voice cut the silent pause in conversation like a knife. "Herry, you can move it. You're strong enough!"

Odie nodded. "Great idea."

As the narcissist glowed with ever-increasing pride, Herry stepped forward, grunting only slightly as he hefted nearly the entire mess in one go, dumping it unceremoniously to one side. Theresa kicked the door, and it swung inwards with an echoing creak, revealing a carpet of fallen dust, but an otherwise unharmed room.

"Excellent! Finally something's going right for us." Herry enthusiastically pumped his fist in the air, turning towards Neil. "Good choice buddy."

"What now?"

They turned to Neil, who looked quite pensive. "I'm going to have to think about this." He said, slowly. "I guess the rest of you should just try to clean up a little for now." Finger still pressed to his chin, he wandered through into the other room, disappearing from view as he knocked the door closed behind him.

"Ugh." Archie started to groan, "Do you believe him?" He looked around questioningly as no groans of agreement came.

"Come on, we've got some orders." Theresa said firmly but brightly to the group, but her eyes seemed to linger on Archie. "We've decided to trust Neil, and we need to stick by that."

"'Gotta admit, he's done okay so far." Herry said, and Odie gave a silent thumbs up in his turn.

Inwardly, Archie's temper flared, but his rational side won out, forcing him to agree with his friends in short, clipped tones, and bend down to reach the mop that had rolled unnoticed under the table during the shaking. His ankle protested mightily from the fight with Chronus, and he added that to his list of grievances he was forced to silently suffer through.

The conversation was sparse as they cleaned, rescuing possessions from dirty corners, and throwing out what had gotten broken. Odie in particular was quite perturbed about his laundry, which had gotten recoated in the mess of dust.

Just as the last spare pair of nunchucks was placed back on the table and the rest of the crew had finally clustered around the 'table' that Herry had rebuilt for a much-needed rest, Neil finally made his reappearance. "Okay guys. Your leader has a plan, so gather around."

"Why don't you come over here Neil, I'm exhausted!" Odie yawned wide, resting his chin on folded arms.

"Fine, Fine." Dragging up a rather wobbly chair, Neil cast his gaze over the rest of the tired heroes. Theresa was the only one who blinked steadily back at him, smiling encouragingly. A flicker of what might have been worry passed across the blonde's eyes, but in the next moment he was all confidence again.

"Right. I think what we need to begin by doing is strengthening our defenses. Chronus doesn't want to give us the chance to regroup, and he's probably already looking for us. If he figures out we're here, we're sunk. We need some ideas to either alert us, or stop him. Uh…Odie, you can handle that, right?"

The descendant of Odysseus nodded. "I think so." He paused, scratching his head. "I might need Herry for some of it though."

Neil nodded his assent, and next to Theresa, Herry cracked his knuckles, leaning over to peer at his friend. "Bring it on."

"Theresa, you're with me." This time, the warrior didn't meet Neil's gaze, instead looking dolefully and nostalgically over at Jay at the use of their former leader's customary line. "We already know that there are people and monsters that would rather not see Chronus remain in charge. We need to find them if we can, and get information."

"You also get to go back to that bar." Herry interjected, a touch teasingly.

"That had nothing to do with it." Neil retorted with a wink, and there were a few tired chuckles.

"Okay, okay people. Listen to your leader now. Archie? You're going out to the school. I know it's a dangerous job, but we need to find out if there's anything worthwhile we could use there. Okay? Great. That's it, and we'll get started tomorrow. Right now we can all go get some much-needed beauty sleep."

The group moved to get up, but sat down rather quickly again as Archie's quiet voice cut through the yawns. "What about Atlanta?"

"I'm sorry Archie, but we just can't help Atlanta right now. There are just too many more important things to worry about. I'm sure that you understand." Neil spread his hands, as though speaking to a petulant child.

The brief second of silence was palpable before Archie's yell finally split the air. "Shut up Neil!"

"Hey! You can't talk to me like that!" The blonde's hackles were instantly raised, and Neil bristled like an angry cat.

"The hell I can't!" Archie stood, meeting Neil's gaze with fire of his own.

"But I'm…"

"Yes, yes, we know. The _leader._ And just a _marvelous_ leader you are too. You leave your crew to do all the work, and…and…you're just…just a joke." Archie's sarcastic and angry tirade petered out as though he wanted to say more, but instead he turned and rushed out, slamming the door so hard that another fine layer of dust fell to the floor. Odie and Herry were rather too shocked to even feel upset about all the cleaning they'd done.

"A good leader would go after him." Theresa intoned quietly, giving Neil's arm an encouraging squeeze even as he nodded in return, squaring his shoulders and preparing to find the wayward warrior.

Luck was not required for the descendant of Narcissus to locate his teammate, as he soon found Archie slouching against the wall to the path towards where Atlanta's coffin was stored.

"Uh, so hey."

"Go Away Neil. I don't want to deal with you."

"Well, um…you're going to have to."

Neil tried to force himself to think like a leader would, try to see past Archie's unappreciative attitude towards his greatness. He tried to reason why one of his friends couldn't see the logic in his decisions. Clearly they couldn't help Atlanta if they had no way to get to her. Not to mention, if he cared so much about her, why was he risking her precious body, when he might lead Chronus to her by wandering around unguarded on his own. Put simply, Archie was being highly irrational. In Neil's opinion, he was the joke.

But he couldn't tell him that, and start another fight. There must be something about Archie that he was missing. But what? Neil was unhappy about their situation too. Jamming his hands in his pockets, Neil's eyes widened with understanding.

"Arch, do you remember the time that Atlanta slid my mirror under my door when I left it in the bathroom? She did it so hard that it went under my bed, and I didn't come to practice for a week because I was so upset I lost it."

Archie's mouth quirked up in another angry sneer. "Is that why you don't like Atlanta? Just because of the dumb mirror thing?"

Neil chose to ignore the insinuation. "I'm not talking about Atlanta. I'm talking about how my experience is similar to yours right now. Actually, scrap that thought. I am talking about Atlanta. I got my mirror back and eventually, you'll get Atlanta back because I'll make sure of it so that we can stop Chronus. You can be really irritating when you don't want to admit you're upset, you know. Think about it, and try crying if you have to." Neil took a breath, digging in his pants pocket, handing Archie a handkerchief, who looked back up at him with an extremely guarded expression. "Here. And make sure you don't have any of those gross red blotches on your face when you get back. They're very unbecoming."

Turning on his heel, the stand-in leader of the heroes turned and walked back up the hall, leaving Archie by himself once more. His shock turned to even more genuine surprise as he felt something warm tickle his cheek.

Numbly, he used the handkerchief to wipe away the first tears he'd cried since he'd been ten.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

So here we are with Chapter three. I'm hoping you now all realize why it was that I didn't exactly stress Archie's reaction straight away; but I'm hoping this also satisfies some of the desire for a more involved reaction from our love struck warrior. As always, I strive for characterization and an enjoyable read.

The convention was fantastic, and you can read my con-report at my Live Journal; lostexperiment is my handle there, same as here. Pictures of myself in costume (FF7 Cloud and Scarlett) can also be seen for your amusement at www dot nocturnalsoldier dot org slash an06

Another long pause to follow, due to my being up at my cottage on vacation for a week starting tomorrow…but updates will resume when I return, of course.

**Bonus Commercial:**

_From the authors of Night Comes Down and Skin Deep comes an epic of unbelievable proportions. If you thought you knew everything about the modern heroes of Class of the Titans, you were wrong. Discover Jay's startling secret, Theresa's hidden fetish, and much, much more. The very latest in eye-opening drama, this story promises to be one of the year's best fanfics._


	5. Chapter Four: Painkiller

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter Four: Painkiller**

Plunking himself down heavily onto the least blackened chair in their base, Odie dug out one of the cans of shady-looking root beer that Archie had discovered stashed behind a radiator the other day. Neil had flipped his coin over whether or not they were fit for human consumption, but they were all so hungry by this point that he was fairly certain they would have risked drinking them regardless. The click of the tab created an explosion of noise in the near-silence, and Odie risked a glance across the table into Jay's blank stare. Naturally, the former leader gave him no sign of recognition, but the descendant of Odysseus sighed mightily around his mouthful. "You 'n me both Jay."

Nearly an hour had passed since Neil and Theresa had left for their leg of the mission, and since that time Odie had turned his mind instantly to the task he'd been left, eager to get started. Reality was currently crashing down on him hard, as he realized that none of his precious technology, laptop or otherwise was available for use, never mind the incredibly advanced stuff that the Gods could have provided. Heaven forbid fate could choose a more convenient time to test the abilities of the descendant of Odyssus. As it stood, his mind was a depressingly blank slate and it was probably a more productive idea to dangle a piece of string in front of Jay's nose to see if he'd get a response.

That was amusing at least, and as he struggled to avoid snorting root beer out of his nose at the mental image of Jay batting at string like a cat, the frustrated hero nearly missed the conversation that was taking place in the next room. Abandoning his dinner for the present, he crept over to listen.

"Hey Arch." Although he was trying to whisper, Herry's naturally booming voice floated strong and clear towards where Odie sat, just out of sight of the doorway. "Can we talk?"

"Um, I guess. What did you want to say?" Archie sounded rather distracted.

"I know you're…" There was a pause, and Odie pictured Herry's face scrunched up into the expression that had in the past won him a reputation as "dumb". "…in Love with Atlanta."

"So?" Archie was on the defensive, and it wasn't surprising. The descendant of Hercules, for all his various shortcomings as a scholar, was surprisingly perceptive when it came to reading other people, especially in matters of romance. Archie knew this as well as Odie did.

"Well, all I'm saying is just to be careful out there. I know why Neil gave you this mission, and I don't entirely disagree with him either y'know. However, you might jump at an opportunity without thinking about the consequences."

"Oh yeah, well you're one to talk…"

The eavesdropper crept away, deciding not to push his luck, but he would have been glad to hear the determination in Archie's voice when he finally dropped all pretense and assured Herry that no such thing would happen on his quest.

* * *

Many warnings later, the increasingly annoyed Archie had been sent on his way, and Herry returned to find Odie attempting to rig up a system of empty pop cans behind the entrance. 

"You think Chronus is going to use the front door?" he asked in surprise, mouth twisting into a frown at this apparent loss of ingenuity on the part of his friend.

"I know it's silly. But it's at least something we can do for now." Clearly frustrated, Odie tugged at his hair and shoved his glasses so far up his nose his eyelashes brushed the lenses.

"I feel so trapped in here. I keep thinking about that pile of junk that fell outside, and wonder what would have happened if it had fallen on us…ooh. Sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up." Herry bit his tongue and winced as he watched the claustrophobe go rigid.

"No. No." Odie gave a little shiver, but his eyes began to sparkle with ideas. "Cerberus was able to tunnel under his cage when we tried to catch him, right? And so can we!" Opening the door, he darted out, stopping a little ways down the passage. "We're underground, kind of, right? So look. Chronus has no choice but to attack us from either the front door, or above. We can make some underground passages out. We'll also be safe if the roof caves in!"

Herry looked dubious. "You're going to spend all that time digging out little cramped passages underground?"

Turning a rather sheepish look on the descendant of Hercules, Odie shook his head. "No, that's your job." Sensing rebellion in the ranks, he hastened to add "Unless you have a better plan."

Herry's shoulders slumped, but he knew that his friend was of course, absolutely right. "Okay. Where do you want this thing?"

Odie rushed back inside, leaving the door open to look out. He circled the room, analyzing every angle. "Somewhere over here would be best, I think."

Joining him at the soon-to-be construction site, the muscular brunette looked around. "So what am I supposed to use for tools?" Not receiving a reply right away, he fixed his friend with a suspicious glare.

Predictably, the reply did not fill him with confidence. "Well, Cerberus used his paws."

Fortunately, the rotting floorboards and water-damaged cement would have posed little problem to Odie himself, and Herry soon got into the task, sending dirt flying as he burrowed with the help of directions from above. For someone as powerful as Herry, the work was relatively easy, and the two began to chat to pass the time.

"Hmm. I know Archie's probably nowhere near the school yet, but how do you think Neil and Theresa are doing?" came Odie's voice from above.

"On their mission?" Herry's reply was muffled by the ever-deepening passage.

"Yeah. What'd you think I meant?"

* * *

Theresa wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when Neil had informed her they were about to go to a club, but she'd decided that they were probably going to wind up in a place much like their own hide out, with a couple of people, and some salvaged audio equipment. 

As it turned out, the place in question was also using some underground remnants of a house, but that was where the similarities stopped. The previous owners of this place may well have been as well-off as Theresa's own father.

The emergency lighting system had been ingeniously replaced with black light bulbs, and the place was, to put it mildly, packed to bursting. A home theatre system with dangerous amounts of wires hooked into the surround sound pumped the music out at ear-splitting volumes, and it seemed that the individual behind the bar wasn't even human. Perhaps she was a nymph, but it was hard to tell from this vantage point.

"What now?" Even with her mouth mere centimeters from Neil's ear, Theresa had to holler to be heard.

"We wait for someone who can give us reliable information!" Neil shouted back above the din, glancing around a bit distractedly.

"But what do we do until that time?" hemmed in by bodies on all sides, the only child began to radiate frustration with their situation. Although not claustrophobic like Odie, she had grown up having a lot of personal time for herself, and with no clear goal apparent from their outing, she was looking for her space.

"We're in a club, Theresa." Neil leaned close to her ear for his drawl to be heard above the music. "People will show up when they show up. And if they can manage to get here around that little Chronus problem. Until then, we have two options. We drink, or we dance. I recommend both."

He pressed a bottle into her hand, already swaying in time to the music. Theresa watched condensation trickle to the floor in a sort of shock, not bothering to try to ask him how he even paid for it over the thump of the bass.

Resigning herself, she took a tentative sip. It was clearly nothing commercial, and had likely been brewed by somebody who worked at the "establishment", judging by the way her eyes started to water from the strength. She had enough time to marvel at Neil's apparent resilience, noting the fact that his bottle was already three-quarters empty before the effects of the drink hit her like a blow to the head.

The lights slipped into a shimmering haze and the music into nothing but deep rhythmic beats, and she didn't resist pressing herself closer into Neil's arms when he reached for her.

Hands…his? (It seemed that way. It must have been.) slid over her. They definitely weren't going where they weren't supposed to, but would that be so bad?

Jay had never done anything like this. He'd had some kind of prejudice against dancing almost as soon as the Pan incident took place. It hadn't stopped with music either. He had simply become increasingly uptight about anything that had to do with Chronus at all.

One song segued into another, Theresa wasn't really paying much attention at this point, and it was with a start that she'd realized that Neil had stopped moving behind her. It was with some embarrassment now that she staggered a few steps forward and away from him. He didn't seem to notice, and spun her back to face him, the motion pressing their bodies tight against each other once more. "Listen." He hissed.

Theresa paused, trying to hear something over the deafening volume of the music. She couldn't. "What do you mean?"

"This song. It's Phil's. I recognize it from last time."

"Phil? Do you mean Pan? Is he…" Theresa was cut off as Neil clamped a hand across her mouth.

"Shhh-hhh. Phil while we're here, 'kay? He's…" his voice lowered still more. "…incognito."

Feeling a little warm and irritated, Theresa removed the restricting arm from her face. In response, the blonde backed off a little, but his nose seemed to hover just above her shoulder. "Neil, I…"

"Over there. By the bar." Before Theresa could get irritated at being interrupted a second time, she spotted the demi-god, chatting nose to nose with the bar nymph. It seemed he hadn't lost his touch with the opposite sex, though a fierce loyalty to Atlanta prevented her from admitting this, even to herself.

Neil pulled Theresa through the crowd, now regretting having given her the liquor. It had been fun while it lasted, and she did seem to be sobering slightly, but still walked with an unsteadiness that would be a hindrance to them in a fight.

Although he was certain they could trust Pan fully this time, he hoped that the place was packed enough that if they were recognized, he could fight as dirty as possible before they escaped. At present, everyone seemed distracted enough, and he felt bold enough to tap the smooth-talking deity sharply on the shoulder.

Pan turned to face them, and the bar-nymph's smile of delight turned to a frown as she realized that neither male was going to pay her any more attention. Theresa still got the brunt of her dirty look, before she disappeared to handle another customer who had appeared at the other end of the table.

Guiding Theresa to a seat next to them, Neil gestured for the three to stick their heads together to converse as best as possible. As they got close, Pan pulled away almost immediately, eyes slightly wide.

"I know it's not the time, but your breath smells like you both got nailed in the teeth by toxic waste." He waved a hand in front of his nose to illustrate. "You should really stay away from that stuff, it's way stronger than what's healthy for any mortal."

Theresa blushed a little and backed away, but soon leaned back in so she could hear. Neil for his own part took the comment in stride. "Sorry Phil. But we're here on a mission."

"That's right." Neil was relieved to hear the fighter sounding almost back to her normal self. "We're looking for people who might help us stop Chronus."

Although the bass beat prevented anyone in a meter radius from hearing, all three conspirators looked around. Still, nobody seemed to have heard.

In response, Pan merely shrugged. "This is what this place is all about. These folks know they're dead meat, I guess." He jerked a thumb back to the nymph. "We, and some of the others are just trying to let them think it'll be more comfortable if and when their time comes."

Theresa shook her head. "Phil, we need more than that. We need to take an active role. We need to bring Atlanta back so we can stop the prophecy."

Neil nodded agreement, relieved that Theresa had taken the conversation by the horns. He hadn't been entirely sure himself what to say to the deity once they'd found him, and tried to look as though this plan had been developed in detail since the beginning.

"I don't want to get too involved with Chronus again. The last time he did some pretty awful stuff to my head, and I'd prefer that I don't become a weapon against you for a second time. Especially not now."

"We understand that, but maybe you could just point some people in our direction if you come across anyone willing to fight?"

"We'll be back." Neil added, feeling as though a leader should have said far more by this point.

"I guess so." The reply came slowly, each word out dragged out as the God-turned-DJ thought hard. "That probably wouldn't hurt."

"Excellent then!" Neil straightened, raising his hand to signal the barmaid, but his ensuing girlish shriek could be heard by the entire bar as the music died suddenly. Had the circumstances been different, he might have actually been truly embarrassed. As things stood, the accompanying desire to hide was now manifesting itself powerfully.

Both Theresa and Pan looked up in shock and even the warm alcohol-infused blood of the former ran chill in her veins as she saw the three Sirens, standing proud in their natural avian form and holding the wires to the sound system.

The effect of the monsters' presence did have the effect of causing mass panic, and the patrons scrambled as best they could in their varying states of intoxication, allowing Pan to gain control of himself for as much time as it took to haul the two teenagers safely behind the counter. Setting his face purposefully into his most charming grin, he sauntered over to the intruding females.

"What do we do?" A combination of public embarrassment and shock had caused Neil to revert temporarily from competent leader back to his usual state of self-preservation induced panic.

"I'm not sure I really know, ladies, but can I get you a drink?" Pan's voice floated over the bar towards them, a note of vague insistence insisting that his window of stalling time for them was fading fast.

"Come on, let's go." Theresa grabbed ahold of Neil's arm. "I think if we stay low, these people's legs will cover our escape."

A touch numbly, Neil nodded affirmation. Something, perhaps his infamous luck, told him to grab the two bottles he'd been looking at ever since Pan stashed them both back here, and he held on to them fast as they crept for the exit.

Every second, from the time they slipped through the crack in the drywall to the very moment they felt themselves safely lost in the myriad of passages, they expected to feel talons shredding their prophecy apart along with their flesh. Neil's fingers had long gone white and cold as he gripped his bottles, and when they finally found the courage to relax, he set them down, wringing his hands free of the built-up tension.

"Weapons?" Theresa asked him, breathing heavily, not from exertion, but rather adrenaline powered exhilaration.

"I'm not terribly sure." Neil answered honestly. "All I know is that they're both full. They'd probably hurt someone, but I think we're going to want what's inside more."

The colour drained from his companion's face as she assessed that statement. "You think that Archie, Herry and Odie might fail?"

Neil's head sank into his hands, as for the first time since taking on the role of leader, he felt the true weight of the burden that had once been Jay's to it's fullest. He ran his hands through his hair, the careless gesture having been practiced so much that not a hair fell out of place, for all the good it did him now. "I don't know."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

It's good to be back! I don't have too many notes, other than that I'll be able to update a little more frequently now. Vacation was awesome.

If it interests you at all, I'm not terribly fond of song-fics, but the song that Neil and Theresa danced to at the club was, in my mind Video Kid by The Birthday Massacre. If you'd like, you can reread, with background music ablaze.

Hope the chapter was good, and I've got a LOT of 5 written – some of this got written at the same time, since I was trying to decide where to make the breaks in this one LONG train of thought.


	6. Chapter Five: One Shot at Glory

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter Five: One Shot at Glory**

Archie stood at the entrance to the subway system for what seemed to him an eternity, staring reflectively up at the sliver of forbidding red sky he could see from his vantage point. His nervous breathing was metered with some effort, as he prepared for what he hoped would finally be the start of his quest.

Although he didn't like to admit it, the discussion he'd had with Herry before leaving had certainly given him something to think about, and now facing down reality, he felt more reluctant than he cared to admit. The mission he'd been given was of course, the most risky of all, and should he fail, the entire group would be jeopardized and the blame would fall on him. His first reaction was to find life, or more accurately the hierarchy unfair, but his conscience reminded him that taking this assignment had in the end been his decision. It probably wasn't untrue that Neil had reserved a slightly less dangerous assignment for himself, but yet given the extra information their new leader had managed to glean about his feelings, even he had to admit that he appreciated the thought.

He gave the sky another look and tried to get his thoughts in order. "Okay Atlanta." He whispered into the gloom, grateful at this time for his lack of companionship. "I think I'm ready to try this again. Don't think badly of me if I can't do it."

He paused yet another moment, features settling into a grim smile as his innately competitive nature kicked in. "And, I'm going to prove to Herry I can do this!"

* * *

Despite his personal challenge to the descendant of Hercules, it was the latter's advice he took as he prowled the city, making his way as discreetly as possible towards the school grounds. Taking some inspiration and a mirror from Neil, he used the reflective aid to peer not at his own reflection, but rather around street corners before walking down them himself.

He was glad he'd had the foresight for this, as hoards of mythological creatures lurked everywhere. Whether or not they were actually under complete control of Cronus was a different story, but all things considered it was hard to tell the allegiance of one Chimera to the next; both were as a general rule, fairly intent on eating you for dinner. Although the route was winding, long and often came with frustrating direction changes that spared him a run-in with a monster but forced him to go the wrong way entirely, Archie stuck to his plans and in this round-about way, eventually managed to reach the grounds of New Olympia High without incident.

To refer to the location as 'grounds' or even 'New Olympia High' might have been a bit much. Despite knowing what to expect, the damage was horrifying. Archie drew in a quick breath as he stared at charred ruins that could easily have come out of a text book World War II bomb site. He began to wonder briefly (very briefly), what had happened to the Gods. His first bleak thought was that Cronus would already have destroyed them too, but a second opinion had him deciding, with a lot of hope, that Cronus' style probably still included making them watch first as their entire team of Heroes was destroyed. He wasn't going to be the one to give him that satisfaction.

* * *

Like the remainder of the school, the inner sanctum of the Gods and Heroes was now an open air arena, the last bit of crumbling ceiling eroding slowly as every passing breeze caused a little more dust to settle. The floor was littered in what seemed to be mostly ashes, although some objects in various states of damage were strewn haphazardly around.

To Archie's eyes, it appeared as though a massive fight had taken place before the place was burned. With that logic in mind, it was possible something they needed may have survived the inferno. He began to circle the area, scanning the ground carefully and moving slowly inwards.

On his second sweep, he spotted the corner of the book, poking out of a layer of feathery ash. His sharp vision was rewarded as he pounced on it, brushing away the soot to reveal inlaid ivy leaves spiraling up the spine and across the cover. The horticultural adornments marked the tome as Persephone's and mentally crossing his fingers, he balanced it on his knees to read.

Instead of being a chaptered book, as he had thought, the pages inside were crammed with handwriting in large, loopy cursive. This was not a detailed discussion on gardening; this was a diary.

Archie's hopes soared, as with Persephone's marital ties to Hades, it was possible that she may have written something about the alternative entrance to the underworld they were looking for.

"I guess I'd better look around some more." Archie decided aloud, knowing full well that there might be something else that was helpful lying around, and he didn't want to have to risk a return trip. He placed his hand down to lever himself up and continue his search, but instead found himself staring at the sky, his weak ankle bent painfully beneath his own weight.

His mind screamed at him to get up as his ribs, still reverberating from the shock, had very different ideas. Settling for rolling over, he breathed a sigh of half-relief as the movement relieved the pressure on his ankle. The rest of the breath withered in the back of his throat as he stared up into the hideous avian face of a Harpy. It screamed at him, right before its long talons left a deep gash in the space he'd previously occupied.

Tears came to Archie's eyes as he heaved himself out of harm's way, skidding around heavily on his braced leg. "Come on, you." He coached himself. "Better my ankle than my vital organs!"

Blinking his eyes clear, he brought out his Hephaestus whip, and steeled himself for another round of self-inflicted agony as he sent it crackling through the air to wind with perfect precision around the female monster's ankle.

It shrieked and fought tooth and nail, attempting to free itself and fly away; no doubt to report to Chronus. Archie hung on tightly, curling his toes in his sandals and ignoring the protests his body made.

The struggles ceased for a moment, and Archie wondered if the creature had decided to give up, but the next moment the string went slack as the winged beast turned around and charged the descendant of Achilles in a death from above maneuver. Although his first instinct was to panic, in a moment of irony, Archie remembered the words of Cronus himself.

_Never rush your opponent…_

Keeping his face affixed in an expression of horrified surprise, Archie sidestepped the Harpy at the last crucial second, wrapping it in the powerful chain of his whip and sending it crashing in a painful nose-dive to the floor. It was stunned quite badly, but he worked quickly to tie it up as tightly as possible before it recovered.

The avian female looked up at him with an expression of disgust on her beaky nose. Perhaps Archie was merely looking for a place to project empathy, but it seemed to him that the look was directed more at herself than at him.

"Well. Going to kill me then, Mortal?" she hissed.

Archie, who had to this point been glaring viciously in what he hoped was an intimidating manner, dropped his gaze as he became lost in thought. He never thought he'd actually have to kill anything; the Gods in particular had been quite adamant that they capture and perhaps punish, but never kill. The run-in with Arachne was enough to solidify this decision, and at the time it had been a rational one. Killing was always a reason to remain with Cronus, while mercy invited the chance of changing to a side with better treatment.

Now however, if he was as merciful as he'd always been taught to be, this Harpy would fly back to the God of Time with news and information about what remained of the team. Archie had little doubt that their nemesis would put two and two together as to what he had been up to at the school. If on the other hand, he killed her, Cronus might forget it existed, or perhaps would think it defected.

But wouldn't taking a life make him no better than Cronus? Was that how he really wanted to get revenge for Atlanta? Or was he deluding himself entirely that there was even choice to be made here at all?

He raised his whip a second time, grabbing a length of the new chain and stringing it taut between his fingers like a garrote. Despite herself, the Harpy's eyes widened.

Archie took two steps towards the bird woman before faltering, dropping the chain and retracting it back into the whip. Before he could change his mind, he grabbed his prize and took off at a run, slowing down to a painful walk as soon as he was a safe distance from the library. Perhaps he had made an error, but his conscious was at least clear. He had got what he came for, and now he hoped he could make it home. If the Harpy freed itself and followed him, then he resolved not to be merciful a second time.

* * *

Cronus smiled as he watched the flash of golden brace disappear around a corner, and turned to the tied up Harpy. "So. You weren't able to destroy him, I take it, and he was too 'good' to kill you. What a nice boy. The Gods must be kicking themselves for teaching him such impeccable manners."

"You wanted him to go back to his friends." She spat back at him, affixing the God of Time with an angry yellow eye.

"I did, but I wouldn't have minded if you'd actually been successful." The reply was delivered in a mild but reproving voice. "Now I'm going to have to track them to one of Persephone's little…happy places." His face twisted into an expression of disgust as he made the slightest of obscene gestures with his hips. "I'd rather not; we all know what she and Hades did there."

Ignoring the insinuation, the Harpy shrieked defiantly in response, knowing the worst was about to happen. "We can't read your mind and we're not going to stand for you changing your orders in the middle of a plan!"

Cronus smirked at her, the faintest edge of a growl making its' way into his pleasant tone. "I'm afraid my dear that I can, and will. I'm in total control, and whether you like it or not, that means I control your pathetic little lives as I see fit."

With reckless abandon, the bird-woman returned the half-grin. "You don't seem to control the life of that kid I was supposed to kill."

Whatever she had to say next was drowned out by the wave of fire that engulfed her, burning her to cinders within seconds.

As a testament to her passing, Cronus sniffed the air and pulled a face. "I never did like fried chicken."

* * *

Walking more normally now that he'd given his heel a break, Archie could have cheered aloud as he saw the door way of the new hideout looming closer at the end of the passage way.

Instead, he just about rivaled Neil for a high-pitched shriek as Herry's head popped out of the dirt just inches from his toes. Herry looked just as shocked, but it gave way to delight as he heaved himself out of the ground and locked the other teen in a giant bear-hug before he had time to react or ask questions.

"You're back!"

The twin shouts brought Odie running, and none of the three cared as they all tried to describe what was going on and ask questions all in the same breath. They'd just gotten some semblance of order to the discussion when Neil and Theresa arrived, and they had to explain everything all over again.

They made their way into the hide out, silent for a moment as they collected their thoughts.

Odie stared around at the tired, but victorious group, voicing what was on everyone's mind. "We're only six, but we made it through. We have a chance!"

The group exploded once more into delighted cheers, whoops and catcalls. Jay continued to sit silent, but his problem had become less of a worry, and more of another obstacle that was now definitely possible to overcome. Theresa danced Herry around the room, which Odie might have found unusual, save that he was exchanging a high-five with Archie.

"Hey!" Neil, a giddy smile on his face, raised a hand. The group looked at him and quieted. Amused by his own power, he giggled a little, but eventually got enough control of himself to blurt out "We brought you all something back!"

Theresa suddenly halted, overbalancing as Herry, unprepared nearly knocked her to the floor. "That's right!" she affirmed breathlessly.

After setting Theresa upright again, the descendant of Hercules rushed back to the rest of the group, looking expectantly at Neil. "Food? Did you bring us food?"

"Well," Neil thought carefully. "Better than that, actually."

"It does have Calories." Theresa added, helpfully.

"What's better than food?" Archie's stomach growled to punctuate his point, and the other two were inclined to agree with him. Warm root beer wasn't exactly the best diet.

Neil grinned like a necrophiliac in a morgue. "We have Alcohol…and a reason to celebrate. Which makes this a party."

Dead silence reigned in the room for a moment, as each member of the group tried to decide whether or not such a celebration would be appropriate. This lasted all of three seconds, before the rest of the root beer was appropriated for their celebration purposes, and an air of precious, but short-lived success settled over the heroes.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

This has truly been a chapter for the Archie fans, I think, and hopefully it was an accurate rendition of Archie's nature and skills. I originally had a rather amusing little line to talk about here, but I ended up cutting it out and saving it for the next chapter, so you will be seeing it then. As you can probably tell, the next chapter will be a mixture of good and bad...as Cronus knows a lot more than they think he does.

Also, the metaphor "_Neil grinned like a necrophiliac in a morgue_" is appropriated straight out of Terry Pratchett's Sourcery. The book (and the whole Discworld series, for that matter) is litered with amusing literary devices of the sort, and I couldn't resist using that one here. I also reccomend reading the books!

As always, thank you for the reviews; each one makes me extremely happy, and I hope that the chapters continue to be enjoyable.


	7. Chapter Six: Close to You

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter Six: Close To You**

The celebration was winding down, leaving the heroes in varying states of intoxication. Herry had his head in his arms, and looked to be asleep. His sheer size had protected him against the worst, and he'd more than likely passed out more from exuberant exertion than alcohol. To Theresa's amusement, Archie had coiled himself cozily against Jay, having apparently decided somewhere along the way that if the descendant of Jason wasn't moving, he was fair game for becoming a human pillow. Odie was still awake, but barely, doggedly attempting to finish his drink, perhaps as some kind of personal challenge.

"Think we should take that away from him?" Neil's speech was slurred as he watched Odie's head droop, then jerk up, hand struggling to help the glass make the safe journey from tabletop to mouth. It was almost hypnotic.

Theresa shook her head, and leaned closer, placing her hand on his arm to prevent him from getting up. "No, let him finish it. I wanted a chance to talk to you - er - privately."

Neil smiled and obliged, the easy, goofy grin of a man who was drunk, or at least, steadily getting there. He took a generous gulp to cool off, his alcohol fuzzed brain forgetting temporarily that liquor made your blood run warm.

"I wanted to tha...thank you." Theresa hiccupped slightly.

"For what?"

"For getting me out of the club safely tonight."

There was something wrong with that statement, Neil knew that much. Hadn't she been the one to suggest the plan that had saved both their lives? Then again, they had both had an awful lot to drink.

"I er, 'was nothing, I think."

The descendant of Theseus would not be brushed off so easily, and she nuzzled his shoulder. "I wanted to -thank- you." she repeated, her tone leaving no room for question as to what exactly it was that she meant to imply.

Neil wanted desperately to say something about Jay, or bad ideas, but Theresa was clinging to his arm expectantly, all gorgeous red hair and woman softness. Neil's throat went dry again, and his mouth worked of it's own accord. "I guess I'm semi-horny."

Odie, who had been staring with marked interest at the condensation dripping down his glass, looked up at the pair and pronounced, in a voice that was surprisingly clear and steady, "Upload...at 50 percent."

In an instant Theresa had jerked away, as the two peered at the thinker with curiosity and a vague sense of suspicion.

Sensing that the mood had been ruined, she shifted away and stood up, the interruption to the conversation allowing her to re-access the intelligence of what she had been about to pursue. Some part of Theresa still knew full well that she had been interested in Jay from the moment she'd laid eyes on him, and those romantic intentions had always been more solidified with every situation that the descendant of Jason had gotten them out of.

Mumbling an excuse that she wasn't sure made sense under her breath, Theresa rushed into the other room and leaned heavily against the wall, just out of sight of the doorway. She stood still a moment, then started to pace slowly back and forth as she coaxed her brain into regrouping and trying to decide what that had been all about.

Jay had always been the foundation of the team. When he'd fallen victim to the Chimera poison, they'd struggled to just barely save his life on a wing and a prayer. Without his presence there was no planning, no careful calculation. Of course, they'd managed in the end, but only just.

Now, Jay was here, but there was someone else who was performing the tasks that the former leader had once been so successful in undertaking. Under Neil's guidance, they'd gone from hopeless to organized, happy enough under the circumstances to have this party. The blonde, through no fault of his own, had unwittingly revealed her former champion as a scam. How could she have ever thought that Jay would save them from anything at all?

"Theresa?"

The descendent of Theseus froze, knowing who was behind her. Slowly, she turned, mind working furiously as she tried to decide what to say or what to do. Sure enough, there stood Neil, unsteadily clasping the doorframe, and looking hopelessly befuddled.

"Listen, I've been thinking…" he began, in an unconscious parody of his ill-fated performance with Echo. Whether he'd recognized something in Theresa's manner or had just put together a theory after she'd rushed off, he wasn't sure, but he was determined this time to end it first before his ego suffered another blow.

Unlike the blonde nymph however, Theresa had plans that ran completely the opposite to what the blonde was expecting. In a single movement, she'd crossed the room, and flung her arms around Neil's neck in a fierce hug.

The descendant of Narcissus staggered backwards a few paces with the unexpected force, but was quick to return the hug, tightening his arms around her and drawing her close when she leaned up to kiss him, 'good' and 'bad' ideas be damned.

Something in the back of his mind told him that he should probably close the door, but a quick glance revealed that his fellow heroes were all fast asleep. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

A few moments later, it didn't matter at all.

* * *

Neil awoke to a dry mouth, and a wave of guilt he'd never experienced before. As the most experienced drinker in the group, he'd had enough sense to get up in the middle of the night and locate some non-alcoholic beverages in order to stave off the hangover that Theresa, Odie and Archie were now all complaining of. Herry seemed a bit groggy, but was otherwise taking care of the others, without so much as a reprimand for their carelessness. Given his current state of mind, this was something Neil felt rather grateful for as well.

As he helped to clean up the remnants of the celebration, Neil attempted once again to put himself through the agony of reflecting on the past night. The first part of it was wonderful, but while it should have ended with wonderful, as life usually did for Neil, it instead trailed off into the horrible feeling that in the end he'd really done something wrong. Unused to such sensations gnawing at his brains, Neil decided to listen to his conscious and leave well enough alone for the present.

Instead, he turned his attentions to plotting their next moves. He would probably have Odie take a look through Archie's literary find, once he was feeling up to it. With any kind of luck (he wondered if he was jinxing himself) they would find the information they would need to go after Atlanta in the underworld.

* * *

As it happened, Neil's luck had not yet petered out, and there had been another brief moment of happiness as the now-healthy group came running to Odie's excited summons.

"I think I found it you guys!"

They crowded around, Odie waving them away. "Don't crowd me. Look. It's right here!"

Neil grabbed a hold of the book, wheeling away while reading aloud. "'_Last week, after the kids had gone to bed, Hades and I met at the pond in the park and…_' whoa." A fresh wave of guilty conscience hit him with a vengeance, and he laid down the book, his face feeling slightly hot.

Odie giggled at the blush, as Herry and Archie crowded each other to see what it was that Persephone had described. "Gee. Never had you figured for a prude Neil."

Theresa tried to catch his gaze, but the former model avoided eye contact with her, talking above the catcalling duo to get the group's attention. "The important thing is that we now know we've got to try and get over to that park. We're still safe in that Cronus isn't sure on where we are, but the park is so far outside of the city that we're going to have a harder time hiding once we're out in the open."

"That's probably right." Odie confirmed, and Neil felt better at having an excuse for conversation that wasn't with Theresa at this moment.

"We've got to have a plan of attack in that case." Neil pressed.

"I say we just let Odie kick Cronus in the nuts again!" Archie grinned. Herry put in a back-up cheer from behind him.

Odie grinned a touch proudly, but did shake his head. "Liked that, did you? But, I don't think that'll work a second time guys. I'm more inclined to suggest alternating an above and below ground route as far as we can, then running for it. There's no way that I can think of to avoid getting to the park without having to be out in plain view for a certain amount of time. We might be able to confuse anyone who might see us, if we're always in different spots, however."

Nodding slowly, Neil agreed. "That might just work."

* * *

Unlike many of their previous ventures from their hideout, this time they were plagued by pursuers almost from the first moment they poked their noses out of the subway system. This bothered the descendent of Odysseus, but it seemed that for the time being, his plan was working. Each enemy that they encountered seemed to be a different one from the previous time, but they were always alone.

This round, a giant with goat-like legs, two heads and a giant club came at Archie, whose Hephaestus whip wound snake-like around the behemoth's legs, sending him tumbling to the ground face-first. Seeing their opening, the group dashed around a few corners, disappearing back into the subway system before the creature could so much as regain it's footing.

Odie plucked his sweat-soaked T-shirt away from his skin between finger and thumb, airing himself. "I don't get why there's never anymore than one of them!"

"Probably patrol." suggested Archie. "He's just got one of his creatures stationed at each street, and it's kind of hard to avoid that, unless we start climbing buildings."

"I guess. At least we're getting where we want to go so far."

"Exactly. What's our next run?"

Consulting the rough map he'd drawn up based on one of the subway run-lines, Odie swallowed heavily. "Unfortunately, this is the big one. We've got to get from here to the park, all in one go, all outside. Everyone up for it?"

"That's supposed to be my line!" Neil wagged a finger in front of Odie's nose haughtily. "I'm the leader you know."

"I'll take that as a yes then." The descendant of Odysseus smirked back, as Neil looked mildly shocked.

Rallying nicely, Neil beckoned them along with a wave of his hand. "Then, let's go already!"

As a group, they raced up the stairs, fanning out onto the empty street and subconsciously slipping into fighting poses. Odie's forehead crinkled again.

"This is lucky for us. Let's move it!" Neil called out, the mere mention of his Gods-given talent laying the worries to rest for the present.

They moved.

* * *

"Whew! Here! Talk about it. That whole thing was just luck--" Neil trailed off. His voice, already breathy from their dead run to the park, died in his throat as he beheld the Titan standing before them, smiling wickedly.

"Oh now, really Neil. You don't really think I'd allow you to go try and rescue your friend without a fight, would I?"

"How did you know?" was all the blonde managed to sputter out, not caring that in the process of backing up, he'd allowed Theresa to catch him around the shoulders, holding him close.

"Archie wasn't exactly…subtle, when he fought my Harpy."

It was the warrior's turn to go white as he recollected the battle in question. "Crap! I should have killed it!"

Cronus' smirk turned to a scowl momentarily. "No, you can't take the credit for that one, I had to exterminate that traitor myself. Be that as it may, I knew you'd come to one of those places, and I needed to be ready for you. Why do you think it was so easy to get here? The opportunity to exterminate all of you at once while you're all tired and run-down is a golden opportunity!"

"We're not finished yet!" Herry yelled, cracking his knuckles and stepping forward. The others took their cue, standing at the ready.

To their shock, in the next second, a wormhole opened next to Cronus. He had barely enough time to gasp in confusion before a long, purple arm swathed in purple cloth reached out of it, and swung the Titan into the hole.

The group gaped, as their savior hopped out of the hole himself, watched as it closed up, then dusted his hands, and adjusted his clothing. "There. That ought to please Persephone."

Theresa pushed her way to the front of the group at the mention of her mentor. "Hades, right? Is Persephone okay?"

"Oh sweetie, don't you worry your pretty head about it." The God of the underworld waved off Theresa's concern with a flick of his wrist. "Cronus wanted to lock her up with the others, but I couldn't very well let anything happen to my beloved."

Herry's face was twisting oddly despite himself, and he kept coughing into his hands. Archie thought he knew what that was all about. With the lisp in his speech and the flamboyant manner, it was difficult picturing the purple-skinned God to be interested in the opposite gender at all.

"But, what happened to the others then?" Theresa was not to be deterred. "What has Cronus done with them? Why can't Persephone help us?"

"Well love, it's like this." Hades crossed his arms, drumming the tips of his fingers as he spoke. "Persephone's allowed to stay with me, so long as she didn't try to contact the rest of you. The other Gods, well, Cronus wouldn't be so daft as to try and lock them in Tartarus, although I do think he would have enjoyed the poetic justice. He's such a drama queen like that. Bottom line is, I don't know where they are."

There was a muffled squeak from under Herry's hands, which were now covering his entire face as he laughed. Hades shot him a confused look, but shrugged and turned back towards the others as Odie cut in.

"We need to get into the Underworld here. For other reasons than to talk to Persephone." He paused, apparently trying to decide whether or not he should continue. "We'll fight you to do it if we have to." Staring at the ground and hands jammed in his pockets, Odie wasn't cutting a particularly menacing figure, but he knew his friends felt the same way.

To their immense relief, Hades laughed, lifting Odie's chin with a finger. "Oh HONEY, don't you worry. Didn't I just help you out? You're more than welcome to use this passage."

"Wait a moment." It was Archie's turn to interject. "The Underworld never lets anyone do anything without some kind of strings attached. What is it this time?"

Much to the heroes' surprise, the God shrugged. "Nothing loves. I think you'll have more than enough problems on your own without my adding to them."

Before anyone could ask what exactly it was he meant by that, the God of the underworld was gone, vanishing this time in a cloud of smoke instead of a black hole. Instead, Neil was left to look around at the group. He put a finger to his chin, mentally readying his pep-talk. "The underworld is going to be dangerous."

"But, we'll be safer from Cronus down there than up here." Theresa cut in, shooting him a hopeful look. He gave her a watery smile in return and she went on, apparently encouraged. "Cronus isn't well-liked down there, remember."

"What are you going to do with Jay?" Odie asked, and the group looked over towards him, missing Neil and Theresa's attempts to rearrange their faces into more neutral expressions at the unwitting insinuation.

"We have to take him with us." Neil said after a moment of contemplation. "We'll need all of us in the underworld, and we can't leave him unguarded for Cronus to find."

Archie and Herry nodded, the former preparing to take on the first task of playing seeing eye dog.

"Hey, guys." Archie's voice took on a note of panic as he looked around. "Where's Jay?"

"He can't have gotten far!" Neil spun a full 360 degrees, stopping suddenly and stumbling a few feet forward, as his eyes lighted on his target. "Jay." he breathed.

"What are you doing? I mean, you're okay! You're up! Walking!" Archie's voice was enthusiastic, but he approached the descendant of Jason hesitantly, unsure of what to do.

Jay turned towards him and fixed him with a glare of determination that was almost terrifying after seeing him blank-faced for so long. When he finally spoke, his voice was gravelly and dry from not being used. "I'm going to the Underworld to get Atlanta back."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Well then! Sorry for the longish wait, but chapters will be coming a little slower than normal from this point onwards. You see, I had an unscheduled trip to the floor, and in the process ended up hurting my wrist. That tends to make that writing and drawing thing I do a little difficult.

I'm not completely incapacitated yet, so just be patient with me, please! I hope that after all this time you'll still be enjoying the story. This chapter was fairly difficult to write, but hopefully it's still okay. As always your reviews and support are appreciated, and looked forward to with great anticipation.


	8. Chapter Seven: Here Come the Tears

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter Seven: Here Come the Tears**

Neil stood still, fixedly watching yellow and purple cotton slide over muscle and tendon as Jay disappeared, stiff and square-shouldered into the darkness. With some effort, he coaxed his face from the blank expression into the broody, thoughtful one he liked to save for photo shoots, hoping to avoid unnecessary questions from the group.

In the effort it took to tune into reality once again, he realized with some shock that the excited murmurs about Jay from the others had dwindled down, and that they were now watching him with just as much intensity as he himself had been staring after the descendant of Jason. His heart beat a hammer in his chest, as his veins filled with ice water. They knew about what had happened between him and Theresa.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Herry touched the model's shoulder, hoping to elicit a reaction. He was rewarded as Neil started violently, not bothering to cover up the thin squeal that escaped his throat with an overly masculine facade, and sending the descendant of Hercules tumbling into apologies about misuse of his strength.

"We were just wondering if we should follow Jay." This was Archie, the look of shock on his face mirroring Neil's own, as both heroes realized the extent of the loyalty that the group had invested in their new leader, and in the same breath wondered if the blonde would remain in command. Although the warrior had privately continued to retain his opinion that Jay was still the better choice to lead their team, the descendant of Narcissus had been the one to guide them through the toughest challenge they had yet faced. Even he had to admit that was extremely reassuring.

Rallying a bit late, Neil finally opened his mouth, and was gratified at least to hear his voice coming out in his usual bell of firm self-confidence. "He's doing what we came here to do, right? We all go."

Noticing Theresa heading in his direction, he gestured expansively towards the group, beckoning them onwards before turning and hurrying after Jay.

* * *

"Wait! Jay!" This was Herry, elbowing his way to the front of the group as they raced down the passageway that lead to the River Styx and Charon's passage. The descendant of Jason paused, turning and swallowing heavily to ease the lingering dry grit in his throat.

"Yes?"

Herry rushed him, grabbing him around the shoulders and pulling him away just a few paces from the boat and the shore of the River Styx. "Jay, we're all so glad you're back!"

There was a brief pause, and then the murmur of assent to this statement sighed up from the group like a night wind. First Odie, then Theresa, Neil and finally Archie after a brief struggle with his lingering macho mindset, encircled Jay in a fierce hug.

"Man, we thought we'd lost you for good!" the hair on Odie's arms stood on end, and Jay could feel the tremor pass through the African-Canadian boy's flesh as he contemplated the horrors of losing one's mental capabilities for good. The others nodded in their turn, succumbing to the odd human urge to admit to their darkest fears after they'd been absolved.

Jay's stony countenance softened, but Neil's stiffened still further, as the orange-haired girl behind him took the opportunity to bury her face in his shoulder blade and send a shiver up his spine by nuzzling the soft skin there, even as she literally linked their fingers together behind Jay's back.

The group stayed like that a moment, ignoring the rhythmic tapping of the ferryman drumming his nails impatiently on the side of the boat for as long as they could. They were glad to have Jay back with them, but knew that as long as they were in that friendly embrace that they wouldn't have to deal with the problems that each of them knew were about to arise.

"How are we going to pay him?" Neil asked, remembering previous treks to the underworld had always been furnished with fare provided by the Gods.

Jay's face held just the faintest trace of smugness as he replied. "We've all still got our wallets, right? I'm sure we can find some money."

"Hey right! We never did use any money when Cronus took over." Herry dug around in his cargo shorts, pulling out his wallet, which was indeed still there, and dug out a few coins. "I've got two here."

Theresa shook her head. "My purse was back at the dorm."

Between the six of them, they managed to put together enough gold-coloured coins to appease Charon and to get them back the other way. Soon they were gliding smoothly across the water.

"So what now?"

Neil caught Jay's eye for an agonizing instant as they both started to reply at the same time. Wisely buttoning his mouth, he backed down, allowing their true leader to speak freely.

"All that can be done is to go to the Elysian fields, and search for Atlanta." Neil found himself nodding along with that statement as they stepped out onto the banks.

"This way." They turned and followed Jay, recalling that some of the heroes did already know where they were headed.

"Theresa, you've been there before, what do you know…about it?" Odie barely managed to gasp the last words of his query around his own gasp as the progression made their way through the gates of the abode of the blessed.

"It's spectacular."

Odie wasn't sure if she'd been replying to him or simply commenting, but the truth of the statement remained. It was indeed spectacular.

"Okay everyone!" Jay's voice jostled the staring group back to reality. "Spread out and look!"

* * *

A flash of vibrant red caught Theresa's eye and her gaze swung in the direction of a young woman resting peacefully on a hill-top. Although the other female had her back to Theresa, there was no mistaking that hairstyle, and the clothing that looked decidedly out of place in the sea of ancient Greek tunics.

She called out to the group. Odie had been closest, and was the first to arrive, appearing suddenly around a bend in the trail and wasting no time joining the descendant of Theseus in approaching their friend.

The thinker realized immediately that something was the matter, and one quick glance at Theresa's face confirmed things. The scuffle of feet behind them indicated the arrival of the rest of the crew.

"Did you find her?" This of course was Archie, shoving his way bodily to the front of the group, his eyes lighting on Atlanta's still form.

"Hold it." Odie nearly got dragged off his feet in his efforts to keep Archie back a few paces. "There's something wrong with her."

"Like what?"

The descendant of Odysseus stepped closer to Atlanta. "We've been standing here in front of her for several minutes, talking at the tops of our voices, all of which should be very familiar. Doesn't it seem a little strange that she's not acknowledged that we're even here?"

Neil frowned. "Maybe she's in shock, like Jay was." He stepped around Archie, reaching down and snapping his fingers in front of the girl's nose. Most unexpectedly, Atlanta looked up almost immediately and Neil jumped backwards a few paces, startled by the sudden movement.

They held their breath as she stared at them and smiled. Her lips were spread wide, and her eyes were soft, seeming to stare right through them. "Oh." She said, and her voice was dreamy. "You're finally here."

"You know us!" Archie was ecstatic. "Atlanta, I promised myself that I'd tell you straight away once we found you. I'm sorry I never said it earlier, but I lo--"

"I've been so worried." Getting to her feet, Atlanta spread her hands expansively at the group, seeming not to care that she'd cut Archie off. The descendant of Achilles backed away, shooting confused glances mingled with hurt at the others. "Now I know that you're no longer in pain, and I can be truly happy."

"In pain?" Herry glanced over at Odie, who looked at Theresa.

Slow comprehension spreading across the fighter's face, she leaned closer to encompass only the group. "I've seen this before. When I came here to get Orpheus' lyre, Orpheus mistook me for his wife Eurydice. No matter how I tried to explain that I was someone else entirely, he refused to see the truth."

"Why wouldn't Atlanta think we're other people then?" Jay asked, and Theresa was shocked at the hard edge in his tone.

"I don't think that's what Orpheus' problem was. These are the Elysian fields. They're all about bliss and happiness. Therefore, when he saw Theresa, who might have borne some resemblance to his wife, something here allowed him to see that, and only that because that was what would have made him most blissfully happy."

"Okay, but we really are here. What's Atlanta's problem then?"

Odie chewed thoughtfully on that one for a moment, but his eyes widened suddenly in dawning comprehension. "She thinks we're all dead!"

"What?" This was Archie, his forehead crumpling with increasing worry.

"I'm not totally sure how it works myself yet, but in some numb way, Atlanta's mind could not completely tune into total happiness. Some part of her still understands about the prophecy, and us showing up here would suggest that we're all dead, which of course to her mind is a good thing, since we're all at peace and we're all here with her." Coming to the end of his explanation, Odie looked at the crew, biting his lip in order to see if they'd understood.

"Atlanta, we're not dead! We've come to take you back so we can stop Cronus!" Digesting the information, Archie immediately decided to take the direct approach.

"Take me back?" Atlanta echoed him, giggling softly. "Why would we go back? It's so much nicer here, and now that you're all with me, we'll have so much fun."

"What is she ON?" Neil whispered into Herry's ear, who nodded silent agreement that this new, perpetually happy Atlanta was a very disturbing change. From the burly hero's other side, Jay was silently assessing the situation. He turned to Herry.

"I don't think negotiation or explanation is going to work."

The descendant of Hercules was about to ask what Jay had meant, when it occurred to him what it was the former leader was asking him to do. He shot a glance at Neil, who waved him forward, nodding.

In an instant, Herry had caught the complacently smiling girl about her waist, and had slung her bodily over his shoulder, racing with long strides towards the exit.

"Let's go!" Jay beckoned them onwards. The other four raced by him in pursuit, but the hero himself did not heed his own order. Instead he was staring terrified as the sky, once a convincing imitation of a clear, blue summer's day had blackened to a deadly night.

The beautiful people who had once been sitting calmly, enjoying their afterlife, and blissfully ignoring the presence of the outsiders now became animated, their faces darkened and hollow, anger brewing in their eyes.

"You can't take her!" A long low chorus moan drifted up from the sea of advancing spirits. Jay's stomach suddenly did a roller-coaster plummet. He'd seen this reaction before.

"Run faster! Don't let them touch you!" he commanded the group, vividly remembering what had happened to Cronus when the ravaging souls had caught him. In front of him, the group put on a burst of speed, Herry kicking powerfully at the gate and swinging it outwards with a sharp clatter.

In a rush the group, now restored to seven exploded through the gates, thrashing wildly up the hill towards Charon's waiting boat.

A streak of pain seared through Jay's leg, but he didn't turn or stop running, heaving himself into the boat after the others and slamming the rest of their change into the ferryman's palm. The souls stopped at the edge of the water, moaning and angry, but refusing to attempt to go after them.

The descendant of Jason examined his wound, raw flesh bubbling painfully like a chemical burn. He barely felt it. Inside his mind, he chanted a mantra in time with the throbbing of his injury. It was a few more moments before he felt enough strength to voice it aloud.

"I'm sorry."

No sooner had the words left his lips, than he heard the sharp intake of breath from his fellow heroes, the shuffling of bodies in their seats, no doubt as they prepared to offer some comforting words.

Instead, the voice that finally broke the silence was the one that he had least expected. "It's okay, Jay."

Faces all around cracked with relief at hearing their friend finally speak in a clear-headed, normal voice, but it wasn't long before the floodgates opened. Theresa cried openly, hugging the girl tight. Odie and Herry scrubbed at their faces, reddening their eyes and swallowing heavily every few seconds. Neil's voice was predictably coming out in long, high wails, his beautiful face now marked by the red blotches he'd once proclaimed as so unseemly.

Only Jay and Archie were dry-eyed, the former managing to catch the red-head's eye and mumble a heartfelt thank you over Theresa's shaking shoulders, while Archie crouched down in front of her, this time determined not to mince words or waste time with a lead-in.

"Atlanta, I love you."

She looked at him seriously, without a trace of surprise. "I know."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I was going to mention it last time but forgot; the "I guess I'm semi-horny" "Upload at 50" exchange from Chapter 5 was actually a sort of 'challenge'. Originally my boyfriend pointed out the former one evening, and I, paying attention to what I was writing on the laptop, replied with the later. We had a laugh, and he suggested I put the lines in the fic. The rest is history. :)

And hey look. On top of the hand and the work, I now have a cold. I admit defeat .

As always, thanks for the reviews, replies and concern. I appreciate all of it.


	9. Chapter Eight: Beyond the Realm of Death

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

**Chapter Eight: Beyond the Realms of Death**

The heroes were still sniffling and wiping tears from their eyes as they drew up on the other side of the river. Charon seemed grateful to let them out, and a fresh round of hugging ensued as they climbed on shore.

Only Odie refrained from joining in the small celebration, a thoughtful look spreading across his face. Noticing his discomfort, Jay broke free of the group. "What's the matter?"

"I think we have a problem. Atlanta's body is banged up pretty badly, and she'll be back in it once we leave the Underworld." He noted. "We're going to have to get her medical attention straight away, or else we'll have gone through all of this for nothing."

"Cronus will be after us too." The leader added, wrinkling his forehead in worry. "He won't want us to save Atlanta."

"Maybe we could maneuver a distraction?" By this point, the rest of the team had come over to see what the fuss was about. "Some of us can go get her from the hiding spot. The rest will stay here and keep a lookout, not to mention making sure that Atlanta only returns to her body after you're en-route to a hospital." Theresa suggested.

Jay nodded slowly. "Yes. I think so."

"We can stay in touch via PMR. Leave yours with us, and I think Atlanta should still have hers in her pocket."

As Jay handed over the communicator to Odie, he turned to Herry. "You can be in charge of the distraction team."

The descendant of Hercules nodded with some mild surprise, casting a curious eye on Theresa. Archie put his foot down. "I'm going with you Jay."

"So am I." Neil added.

Surprisingly, Jay didn't argue that, gesturing to his two teammates to follow him out of the Underworld without a second glance behind him. Neil and Archie waved and promised to get the job done before following him up.

As soon as Jay was out of earshot, Herry turned to his teammates, a look of utter bewilderment on his face. "How do we do this? Why would he put ME in charge?"

"Maybe he thinks you'll come up with some good fighting moves." Odie suggested. Theresa looked at her shoes.

"Well…" began Atlanta, "I guess Herry and Theresa should go outside. Somebody has to tell you guys when I'm done… so that can be Odie, right?

"I don't know about that." Herry grinned, clearly remembering his friend's shining moment. "I think Cronus might have more to fear from Odie than myself."

"I'll tell you all about it." The thinker promised in response to Atlanta's interested smile and raised eyebrow. "You two just figure out what you're going to do."

As Odie turned around to detail the thrilling rescue mission from start to finish, Herry shrugged. "I think we should just stick to the basics."

"You mean, go out there, make like we're trying to be all secretive, wander aimlessly until we find somewhere that might be a good fake hiding spot, act like it's the real thing, and then fight as long as we can?"

"Well that's the long version, yes."

"Let's do it!"

oOoOoOoO

"I still can't believe you actually kicked Cronus in the crotch! I wish I'd been there to see it!" Atlanta shook her head.

"Well next time y…" Just then, the PMR went off, cutting Odie off. He held up a finger and pressed it to his ear. "Hello?"

Jay's voice, breathless as though he was running pumped staccato at him over the speaker. "We're close to the Hospital now! And we've got her, but we ran into a snag. We've got some Harpies after us… Tell Atlanta to go! Then call the others and tell them to rendezvous as soon as possible!"

"Can do!"

He turned to Atlanta, who had clearly heard, and gave her a hug. "Good luck!"

She stepped forward from the mouth of the cave, shimmered briefly and disappeared. For an instant, the redhead felt strange, like she was floating in some strange dream where her body didn't exist.

And then, the sensation was gone, and there was darkness and so much movement and unbearable pain.

oOoOoOoO

The eyes of the lady in white bore into them over the face-mask that obscured her eyes and nose. "You're very lucky that you brought her here in time."

Jay's brow furrowed at the mention of 'luck', but he nodded gravely. "Can you stitch her up?" he asked.

"That's not a problem. I can zip that hole closed in about fifteen minutes flat. The problem is that she's lost a lot of blood, and she'll require a transfusion if she's to survive."

Archie practically dropped Atlanta in his enthusiasm to help the love of his life. "I'll do it, doc!" he volunteered, wrenching himself almost comically around in a miraculously successful effort of rolling up his sleeves to where a thin layer of muscle covered the major artery in the crook of his arm. His armful of hunter gave a weak grunt of restless indignation at being jostled.

The doctor placed a calming hand on his arm. "I appreciate your enthusiasm young man, but your friend will need blood of the type that matches hers. You can place her down here." She patted the clean metal counter with her free hand, while she reached for a vial brought by a nurse. Examining the label, she turned to the warrior. "Are you by chance B-positive?"

Archie's face fell. "A-positive." He groaned.

Jay shook his head as well. "I'm A-positive too, I think. Maybe Odie, Theresa or Herry. I can go get one of them. It'll only take a few minutes to find…"

"There isn't time for that. What about you?"

"Huh? Oh. I'm AB-Positive." Neil looked up from examining his reflection in the chrome, protesting immediately from reflexive shock when the doctor grabbed his arm.

"Perfect. AB-blood-type can work for either A or B."

"Heh! Neil to the rescue!" Neil pumped his fist in the air, but went green a second later, frantically gesturing to the violet-haired warrior who obliged by briefly leaving Atlanta's side so the narcissistic blonde could whisper into his ear.

As Jay watched, Archie's ensuing expression went from exasperated to thoughtful to almost kind. It was Neil the coward again, grasping the hand of the descendant of Achilles in a death-grip as the nurse prepped the needle. He was whimpering pathetically by the time his veins began to empty crimson life into the plastic medical bags.

At one time Jay would have found comfort and refuge, laughing good-naturedly at the antics of the descendant of Narcissus. Safe, with the knowledge that he was better, easing the lack of confidence in his own abilities. Now, knowing that Neil truly was stronger than he, his fingers itched to rip the intravenous cord from Atlanta's wrist and smash the bag on the floor. For a single, satisfying instant, his retinas presented a movie-theatre image against his closed eyelids. Clean chrome covered in scarlet spatter, Atlanta's final gurgling breath, and five heroic fingers pointing squarely at Neil as her murderer.

The next instant the image was gone and Jay watched the room spin, tasting bile in his throat. He couldn't remember when he'd fallen to the floor, and he barely acknowledged Archie patting his back and holding his bangs away from his eyes as the pretty red-haired nurse who had brought the blood samples shoved a wastebasket underneath his chin.

oOoOoOoO

Jay plunked himself down next to Neil, whose attention was primarily focused on a glass of orange juice that he held in still-shaky hands. A magazine was spread open across his knees, but he didn't seem to be reading.

The two heroes sat that way for a few moments, the sounds of occasional sips of juice clearly audible in the too-silent hospital hall. Jay wasn't sure of the amount of time that passed, but he eventually looked up at the descendant of Narcissus, focusing on his impeccably groomed hairline so that he wouldn't have to meet those blue eyes.

"You win." He said quietly.

That got Neil's attention, if only to flash the lachrymose hero a confused look. "Are you okay Jay?"

Pausing a second, anger subsiding slightly, the leader turned to look at Neil, mentally rethinking what he was about to say.

"Did you hit your head or something? You aren't making too much sense."

At the apparent insensitivity, Jay's temper flared once more, but his words were dull and emotionless. "Theresa. The team. They're yours now. You don't need me."

Neil's head snapped up quickly, his throat going dry. In desperation, he swallowed the last of the juice. "Ah." He thought quickly, too quickly. "I'm not interested in a relationship with her Jay. That night, it really didn't mean…" too late, Neil realized his blunder.

"So Theresa means nothing to you then? I'm sure she'd love to hear that." Jay's ears had gone red with rage, and he leapt back to his feet, balling his hands into fists.

"That's not what I meant." Neil backpedaled, cup dropping unnoticed onto the floor as he swiftly made to move into the potential escape route of the hall.

Jay circled back, faster than the blonde could move, effectively hemming him in. A part of him wanted to simply apologize and end the fight before it got started. Some remaining rational thought process simply couldn't imagine himself actually coming to blows with one of his gang. Neil seemed to be indecisive as well, shifting uncomfortably, and making small jerky movements every now and then with his hands, as though uncertain as to whether he should prepare to fight.

Like any cornered creature however, Neil finally struck out in a panic, catching the unsuspecting Jay hard across the nose.

He reeled, but his anger won out in that instant, and he righted himself like the fighter he was, coming after the blonde. Their arms locked, and they struggled a moment, drawing apart again when Jay kicked Neil's shin hard.

"Ow!" the blonde yowled in pain, and Jay danced backwards a few steps, that rational little voice clamoring that he'd gone too far; that Neil didn't really deserve this. One thought of Theresa in his arms however, and they were grappling with each other once more. The thrown punches were rare but the few landed blows still rapidly added up in purple bruises. Neil's infamous luck served to protect his looks by preventing Jay from landing anything in outwardly visible areas, but Jay's cheek was swelling visibly from that first strike.

Their fight had brought them close to the chairs that they'd been sitting in prior, and with one final shove, Jay sent Neil tumbling into the plastic seats, causing him to overbalance and land awkwardly over the low connecting armrests. He scrambled, half in discomfort, and half in an attempt to get away, but Jay leaned down hard over him, preventing any escape.

"What are you going to do to me?" Neil actually sounded scared, but then, that was Neil.

Jay leaned down over him, breathing heavily and feeling rather sore but now at a loss. That was actually a good question. What was he going to do with Neil? There was only so much he could hurt him, and what good would it end up doing in the end?

"Listen. What's done is done, and if Theresa really wants to be with me, then she's going to have to realize she's fighting a losing battle for my affection." Neil offered a weak smile. "You guys may tease, but it doesn't make it any less true."

A flicker of the old anger flared in him, but Jay pulled back a bit when he realized that the person he was really upset with was Theresa. Hadn't Neil just given him a clear shot in admitting that he wasn't interested in pursuing the relationship? What kind of person that made Neil himself was debatable, but he didn't exactly have an argument worth fighting over anymore. He pulled away finally, allowing the descendant of Narcissus to sit and rub the places where bits of chair had dug him in the back.

Jay was just trying to decide whether he could trust himself to sit here and talk things out with Neil, when the soft sounds of someone crying broke the silence. He turned back to the blonde, who raised an eyebrow.

"Come on…let's go see what the problem is."

Maybe it was a desire to make peace, but Neil rose without any of his usual protest and followed the leader down the hall. When they finally realized that the source of the sound was Atlanta's room, the two looked at each other, hovering uncertainly outside of the doorway, afraid to look in and see what they might find.

Biting his swollen lip, the descendant of Jason shook his head while marveling despite himself that he was now very glad Neil was with him. "We look together, okay?" he said, softly as possible.

Neil nodded, and the two leaned just far around the door to catch a quick glimpse.

Archie was asleep, slumped all the way forward in his chair, with his head in Atlanta's lap, and blissfully unawares of his girlfriend propped on pillows above him and crying as though her heart would break.

The leader and the narcissist who comprised the private audience to this small spectacle pulled away, but not before hearing Atlanta's voice, barely discernible through the gasping sobs.

"I hate this."

oOoOoOoO

**Author's Notes:**

Well. I'm sorry for the wait, but writers' block is an unyielding dungeon master! Going to Otakon was also fun, and didn't help the break in chapter writing from being anything less than extra long. So now there's extra pressure not to disappoint :D

Enjoy!

(Also, formatting is aparently all wonky so...oOoOoOoO)


	10. Chapter Nine: Electric Eye

**Title:** Night Comes Down

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.

**Disclaimer**: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio

**Summary:** The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?

* * *

**Chapter 9 **

Neil gave Jay a look strangely devoid of its usual clueless and self-absorbed veneer, as they pulled away from the scene and back into the hall with Atlanta's sobs echoing after them.

"She told him that she loved him…" Neil said at last, then added defensively: "I know it's not the same."

"I never said it was." Jay was too shell-shocked to even sound remotely indignant. It was just reflex to defend the woman he thought was his romantic partner.

"What's Atlanta's problem, then?"

"Well…" Jay said slowly. "I guess you wouldn't like it either if you had to come back to the 'real world' after living in paradise."

"Not to mention having to deal with all those unbecoming scars."

Jay nodded, taking the fashion orientated statement to mean that Neil in his own way, understood. "More importantly, do we tell Archie?"

"You're asking me?"

"You're the relationship expert."

"That's totally unfair and you know it Jay."

"Alright. Fine. But we need to decide what to do about this."

Neil sighed. "You're right about one thing. You need to tell Archie I need to tell Atlanta." Noticing Jay's look, Neil held up a hand. "No, really. Atlanta and I have never gotten along. I mean, sure, Archie and I have had our differences, but Archie does everything because of Atlanta, right? If I talk to Atlanta and annoy her, I know she'll still be willing to blurt everything out and not sugarcoat it."

Jay paused a moment, then nodded assent. "Alright. I see your point. What about Archie though?" Shouldn't he know about this?"

"That's your department."

"Huh?"

"You're the tactful one."

Neil all but swished down the hall, leaving Jay to stare after him in wonderment at how much he- no, all of them had been forced to grow up.

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was held around Atlanta's bed. Things were still in a haphazard array. Jay and Neil constantly exchanged covert but significant glances. Theresa's chair was parked next to Neil's. Archie sat openly on Atlanta's bed, smiling happily at her all the while. Even Odie and Herry seemed to be behaving out of the ordinary. Herry kept offering Atlanta bits of his lunch, whereas normally he would normally take it upon himself to clean his plate, and the leftovers and seconds besides. Odie's omnipresent laptop was open, but discarded out of the African-Canadian boy's sight on a wide windowsill.

"Herry, the Doctor's told you only about ten times that I can have solid food tomorrow only. "I'm making out okay with noodle soup, I promise." Atlanta said with exasperation.

Jay caught Neil's eye and the later nodded.

"Archie, I saw something in the gift shop you might like to see." Jay spoke up pointedly.

The other's eyebrows shot up as Theresa jerked sharply as though she'd been kicked. Apparently, Neil had indeed kicked her as she hurriedly asked Herry and Odie to come away with her. Maybe she had come up with an on-the-spot plan, since she requested that the laptop come along for the ride as well. Either way, it achieved exactly the desired effect, as now Neil and Atlanta were left together.

"Guess it's just you and me." Neil pointed out rather needlessly, displaying his usual talent for baldly stating the obvious.

"What do you want, Neil? I can tell that Jay put you up to something. This set-up reeks of him."

Neil decided not to tell her the plan was mostly his. He also decided not to beat around the bush. "We know you didn't want to come back. The problem is however that we need you to defeat Chronus. But also, you can't lie to Archie."

Atlanta crossed her arms.

"Atlanta."

"When did you get all 'sensitive'?" the redhead hissed. "Last time I checked, this was none of your beeswax, Neil."

"Since you died and I single-handedly led the team to rescue you. I was leader." He repeated for emphasis. "Jay was shell-shocked. They wanted me."

Atlanta opened her mouth. For a moment she seemed to be prepared to yell at Neil, criticize his egotism. "No…" she said hesitantly, unsure. She didn't seem to have an argument at all. "I'm not giving up on the team, or the prophecy, Neil." She said at last.

"I know. None of us ever really thought that. I wasn't really mad at Jay either. Not after I've done his job."

"You really did, didn't you." She sighed, as reluctantly as if someone had supplied undeniable proof that the world was in fact square.

"Hades gave us permission to rescue you from the Elysian fields." Neil pointed out, ignoring her trepidation. "You can go back after if you like. You can't lie to Archie though."

Atlanta stared at the descendant of Narcissus as if seeing him for the first time. "Okay."

She started to cry after that, but still pushed Neil away when he offered her a comforting hug. Some things never changed.

* * *

After a period of enduring hard, angry stares thought tears, Neil excused himself. He wandered down the hall and nearly smacked into Theresa the moment he turned the corner.

"What was that about, Neil?" she asked, a touch angrily. "I had to tell Odie that my father couldn't pay the hospital bill since he might be dead! We're lucky he was too concerned to remember we're in Canada, so our Health Care is free. I made him hack the computer and Herry keep watch. It really wasn't that hard to cry over it…but what's really going on?"

Neil told her about what he and Jay had overheard, leaving out the fight between them.

In response, Theresa put her hand across her mouth. "I knew it!" she said. "Well…I didn't…really…but I had all these promotions that things were wrong. I kind of thought they were more to do with the danger of the plan I guess. What did Atlanta say?"

Neil sighed. "She's not happy. I made her promise to tell Archie the truth."

"And Jay's…?"

"Yeah. Breaking the news."

Theresa gave him a look. "Neil…" She moved towards him, smiling in the same fashion she had that night.

He grabbed her shoulders and held her at arms length. "Theresa…do you…?"

"Neil, don't worry so much." She leaned up and kissed him. "Atlanta will fight with us."

The two ducked into the nearest empty room. As Theresa's shirt slid from her shoulders to the floor, Neil forgot his argument with Jay and followed her to bed. He'd worry about this if they lived through it.

"Theresa…Jay he…I…"

"Don't worry about Jay."

Neil didn't, threading his fingers through strands of red hair.

* * *

"You're right Jay! This stuffed lion is a great present for Atlanta!" Archie turned the toy over in his hands, checking the tag. It was a great idea, feminine but certainly not insulting to his girlfriend's pride and tomboyish nature. He paid for it with his normally neglected credit card, and Jay winced a bit.

"Arch…we need to talk." Jay swallowed when he caught sight of Archie's expression.

Archie nodded. "Okay. I expected this a bit, I guess…but I can't tell you how glad I am to have you back as our leader."

Jay almost groaned. "Wonder how long that'll last."

"What?" Archie wheeled around and stared blankly at Jay.

"Really, we need to talk." Jay pushed it.

"Okay…"

The two walked in silence to the food court, where Jay bought a cup of coffee, then sat with Archie as he arrived with a serving of poutine, Doritos and coke. Even now, Jay got a laugh over how the vegetarian and environmentally conscious Atlanta attracted the attention of someone like Archie. Guess it was just opposites attract, though he supposed it could have been a 'sports' thing.

"So, Neil and I…"

Archie stared at his poutine and made a face as if he wanted to spit into the concoction. "Neil and you? Sure. The two of you are all leaderly together now."

"Archie, we heard her crying all night."

"Uh-huh."

"Archie!"

"What? So she's upset with me? Maybe she should have gone to the rainforest with Pan. Done some 'good' for the world? Because I am totally going to screw that nature activist stuff up."

Jay blinked. "That's not it at all."

"Then, what? Honestly Jay, I've never thought I'd say this but I think Neil might be a better leader than…well…you."

Jay reeled a bit, but he groaned. "Neil would tell you the same thing I'm telling you now. He saw it too. Please, Archie. Just listen. Believe what you like about death. But we are some of the few people on earth who know there's an afterlife – and most afterlifes come with the same set of rules. The wicked are punished, the good go to a paradise. Atlanta came from Paradise, back to a world where she was injured and unhappy. It's not your fault that she's upset. You need to talk to her, and be prepared to realize that she may take the option of going back after this is done."

Archie swallowed heavily, toying with his plastic restaurant fork. He appeared ready to believe Jay, but his face soon hardened into its usual stubborn sneer. "I'll believe it when I hear it out of Atlanta's mouth. And that'll never happen." He picked up what was left of his lunch. Jay cringed as Archie struggled not to upend the remaining gravy and fried potatoes onto his lap. Eventually however, Archie decided against it, and giving Jay a glare, he stalked off.

Jay sighed. Hopefully Neil had had some luck.

* * *

Archie stalked along the hallway, feeling immensely irritated by Jay's attitude. Atlanta loved him. That much was obvious. She had agreed to date him.

He stopped shy of her room however, and sank into one of the same seats Neil and Jay had occupied earlier. His mind replayed the conversation between himself and Jay, even if he didn't want to.

Up the hall, a door opened. Archie looked up instinctively, his eyes widened as he identified the tangle of limbs that spilled out of it. Neil was supporting Theresa, who was sliding her pink tank top down. Even from here, Archie could see the obvious red hickey stark against Neil's neck.

"Theresa, this is fun but…" the two were oblivious to Archie's presence, so Neil's voice carried all the way down the hall to him. "Where do you think this is headed?" Neil sounded serious. "I'm not…"

Whatever Neil had been about to say was cut off by Theresa, who caused a distraction by stumbling. Neil wasn't prepared to catch her and she sank to her knees, holding her head.

"What's wrong?"

Archie was out of his seat in an instant, sprinting towards the pair in concern. Neil was thankfully concerned enough himself not to recognize that Archie might have overheard the conversation.

"Here…" Archie helped Theresa to her feet. She was rubbing her head, and looked from one boy to the other.

"What happened?" Archie asked. "I just saw you collapse. Was it a premonition?"

Theresa looked up at the descendant of Achilles. "Yes. Yes. Chronus…he knows. And he's on his way here!"

Neil shrieked at high-pitch volume in response to the pronouncement, the only stab of normalcy. It was a lucky thing, as it spurred Archie into action. "Do you know how much time we have?"

"No…I…" Theresa reeled. "I get premonitions all the time, but this one was…it was bad." She swooned again, almost as if to prove it.

"Well, what WAS it?" Archie pressed.

"Chronus is coming. He's got…an army."

Archie's eyes widened. "Warn everyone!" he shook his head.

Neil all but threw Theresa into Archie's arms and took off down the hall. "Chronus is attacking!" he hollered.

In an instant, people blossomed into existence. Atlanta peered around the corner of her room. Jay appeared at the head of the hall. Herry and Odie showed up a second later. Odie's hair was in a worse mess of dreads than usual.

"What's up?"

"Theresa had a vision. Chronus is attacking."

Suddenly, Chronus' voice boomed around the hospital. It sounded as though he was speaking through a microphone.

"I know you don't want to fight." He began slyly. "Just give yourselves up."

Archie frowned at his whip, but it was Atlanta who spoke, poking her head out her door in her hospital gown. "Never!"

To the surprise of all, she raised her bow, then looked over her shoulder. "Why not?"

Archie grinned. "Why not, indeed?"

* * *

Authors' Notes:

Yes, its been awhile. However, schoo takes prevaence over fic. I hope you all enjoy the new chapter.


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